Sri lankan Education And Resources Network.

                                                                       (From the courtesy of Daily News, Sri Lanka)

An International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) to develop the knowledge of Internet based education of school children in the country was inaugurated by Royal College, Colombo recently under the patronage of Principal Upali Gunasekara. The iEARN is a network of principals, teachers and students of over 4000 schools in nearly 100 countries is the world. Under this program which was inaugurated in 1998 all members have to work together online at very low cost through a global telecommunications network. The iEARN has so far pioneered online school linkages to enable students’ linkages to enable students to engage in meaningful educational projects throughout the world. At a workshop, conducted at Royal College recently to educate the participants about the novel project of iEARN, Human Resources Development, Education and Cultural Affairs Minister Dr. Karunassena Kodituwakku said that numerous topics which to be discussed in the work shop are worthwhile as they were very appropriate to the current situation in the country.

Mr. Gunasekera also paid a glowing tribute to the Deputy Principal of Royal College Primary Section Mrs. Lakshmi Attygalle for being the facilitator of the project and thanked her for guiding the young students on project based learning and international presentations. Gunasekara also thanked Minister Koditwakku for the support and co-operation extended towards such voluntary activities and said that iEARN projects which are Internet based will equip our students cal competencies to a greater extent.iEARN National Coordinator – Sri Lanka Lakshmi Attygalle said that in order to make iEARN part of the co-curricular  activities of schools, new concept called iEARN circles were introduced at several schools  in Colombo including Royal, Ananda, Mesaeus, Ladies, St. Thomas, St. Josephs and Isipathana Colleges.She also thanked the IBM, Managing Director Kavan Rathayaka for tlhe support extended towards the project and said that the concept of iEARN circles have also been introduced in rural schools such as St. Thomas’ College, Matale, Vijaya College, Science College and Aluvihara Vidyalaya of Matale and several other school in Vavuniya, Badulla, Anuradhapura and Gampaha.

(IBM, Managing Director Kavan Ratnayake donates sorftware to Deputy Principal, Primary Section of Royal College Mrs. Lakshmi Attygalle to develop children education programs Education and Cultural Affairs Minister Dr. Karunasena  Kodituwakku, Dr. Madurapperuma  Royal College Principal Upali Gunasekara also in the picture.)

She also said the latest achievement of iEARN Sri Lanka is the launching of its Web site www.slearn.org at Royal College.

Mrs. Attygalle also thanked the Minister for his presence at this forum especially at the inauguration of the new project, conducted a timely one on peace when our motherland is at the cross roads to peace.“May the younger generation will get more involved in the North – South dialogue through iEARN, an internet based collaborative educational medium and become active stakeholders of a peaceful Sri Lanka laying foundation to a peaceful world” she said.

  It is said that this was the first iEARN national workshop held in Colombo with the participation of 15 new schools from Colombo, suburbs and rural sector and students were involved in number of projects such as “Fight against child labour”, “Say no to Drugs”,” “Cultural diversity” and a few baby projects such as “Harry Potter”.