ICT IN EDUCATION IN SRI LANKA

Anura Dissanayake Project Director Secondary Education Modernization Project Ministry of Education Sri Lanka.

Opportunities for Sri Lanka in the ICT Sector

Global Out-Sourcing-A Non-Reversible Megatrend 330 Billion Dollar Market

SL in the Global IT market

Sri Lanka ranks among the Top 50 Global Outsourcing destinations

Sri Lanka being recognized as a Global Center of Excellence for Financial Accounting OS

Source: Tholons

Sri Lanka High Potential for Growth

China Poland Sri Lanka Russia Canada Czech Republic Philippines India

Malaysia

Future Attractiveness

Hungary Ireland Brazil Mexico South Africa Romania

Current Attractiveness
Source: Tholons

Exports Revenue 2006- Sri Lanka

US $ millions
882m 1.5 b

546 m 410 m

250 CV m 135 m 80 m 47 m

Ceramics

Gem & Jewellery

108 m

IT/BPO-estimate

Tourism

Apparel

Rubber

Spice

Coir

Tea

Vision of the IT/BPO Industry

IT/BPO Industry to become the 1 Revenue earner for Sri Lanka by 2012

Revenue- 2 billion US dollars Direct employment100,000

Education Structure of Sri Lanka

Ministry of Education (Central Ministry) Provincial Ministries of Education (9)
Private and assisted schools

Provincial Departments of Education(9) Zonal Education Offices (92) Divisional Education Offices (304) Public Schools - 9714 [National Schools 327, Provincial Schools 9387 ]
*Policies are introduced by the Central ministry for both of Provincial and National schools

Public Schools by Type against Student & Teacher information

Type No. Schools Students Teachers
Stud/Teacher

Type of Schools 1AB 659 1,191,030 54,111 25 59,855 19% 7% 30% 26% 1C 1,854 1,250,235 63,962 22 91,719 29% 19% 33% 31% Type 2 4,225 1,057,071 67,532 17 100,757 32% 43% Type 3 2976 31%

Total 9,714

28% 338,214 34% 19,312 19 65,762

9% 3,836,550 10% 204,908 19 21% 318,093

Ratio Grade 1 Admission

1AB 1C 2 3 -

Schools with grade 1-13 having all three streams for G.C.E A/L section (science, Commerce and Arts) Schools with grade 1-13 having two streams for G.C.E A/L section (Commerce and Arts) Schools with grade 1-11 (up to G.C.E. O/L) Schools with grade 1-5 (Primary Section)

ICT Policy in Education Policy

01 Providing the literacy of Information and Communication Technology for school students Provide schools with infrastructure necessary for disseminate literacy of Information and Communication Technology Teaching Information and Communication Technology as a Subject in the School Curriculum Establish a management structure at the Ministry and Provincial levels to strengthen the capacities ICT teaching in the school system

Current Status
Policy accepted. At present Implemented in Grades 10 - 12

Target
Provide the facility from Grade 3-13 From year 2012

02

2000 Senior Secondary Schools provided with Computer Learning Centres ICT Education introduced in Grades 10 and 11. General Information Technology (GIT) in Grade 12

Infrastructure and training to be provided to schools by 2012

03

Offer ICT as a subject from Grade 3 starting year 2012

04

Management structure established

Management structure will be further strengthened

Cont.

Policy
Establish a monitoring mechanism for the programmes conducted to ensure compliance with national ICT policy

Current Status

Target

05

Role of the Coordinating Coordinating committee Committee to be clearly functioning defined and implemented by 2008 Content to be developed for Computer Assisted Learning for all core subjects in both national languages and English Introduce short courses for all pre-service and inservice teacher training programmes and to develop competencies for Computer Assisted Learning among entire teacher community Provide awareness programmes for all teachers and through schools convey the message to students

06

Development of content Content development and preparation of commenced, need to software in education to suit the national languages scale up and the culture Use Information and Communication Technology as a subject and as an aid for teaching and learning in all teacher education programmes Use of Information and Communication Technology in an ethical manner for education development initiatives Information and Communication Technology introduced in Pre-service Education programmes usage is very minimal SchoolNet access provided to schools through a filtering process. Awareness programmes ongoing

07

08

Cont.

09

Introduce National Level Certification for ICT for students

Discussions ongoing

Several incremental certification levels to be introduced

10

Provision of Administrative and Financial support to computer centres in the school Process established system to strengthen the performance each of the centre Update curricula of ICT Education by the National Institute of Education All teachers training on ICT Education to be planned and coordinated by the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Education Plan and implement a suitable methodology for the maintenance of computers and the computer networks Prepare and maintain national standards for ICT Discussions ongoing

Management and quality standards to be established by 2009

11

Innovations in ICT accommodated speedily in the curricula

12

A clear process available

Strengthen the coordination

13

No suitable Provincial, Zonal and methodology other than School level system to the warranty given by be set up by 2008 vendors/manufactures Quality Assurance Standards to be setup Unit/MOE kept informed by mid 2008

14

IT Literacy & General Education Sector

Number of Public Schools - 9714 Number of Private & International Schools - 400 (approx.)
Several findings, Computer Laboratories Computer awareness of Teachers Computer literacy of Teachers Teacher Computer Ratio Student- Computer Literate Teacher Ratio Internet availability 40% 59.3% 40% 1:7 1 : 57 12% Schools

Details of Trained Teachers and Officers for ICT Education

Basic Traini ng 6400 34129 80 1764 80 4800 1300 48553 ICDL Traini ng 12500 12500 Short Term Training 1000 1675 2675 276 200 20 102 9940 Diplo ma Postgr aduate Diplom a 200 Master s Foreig n Multi Media Traini ng 9940

Funded by

Total

World Bank ADB/SEMP SPECE Project Nawalova (Microsoft) LEAD Project O/L GIT - GOSL A/L GIT - GOSL Total

200 76

20 -

80 22

7900 58342 80 1764 80 4800 1300 74266

ICT in Education Current Status / Strengths..

Description Number of Students in the System Number of Computers in the System Computer Student Ratio (approx.) Number of Internet Connection (Schools +NCOEs + CRCs+ PPMOs+ PITCs+ MoE +NIE + University of Moratuwa) Number of Teachers with PC Ownership (approx :) (National Teacher PC Program) Number of Teachers in the system Number of Teachers already trained on ICT Number of School Computer Labs Status 3.9 Million 40,000 1:100

1038

10,000 200,000 65,000 3260

ICT in Education Current Status / Strengths.

Description Number of Schools with Websites Number of Zonal Offices with Websites Number of e-mail Accounts for Students under SchoolNet Number of Schools Provide surrounding community with IT Services Number of Schools that are self sustainable to meet expenses Courses offered for School Leavers Number of Centers Offer ICT Services for School Leavers

Status 230 12 500,000 800 710 06 Courses 1200

Opportunities of implementing ICT Policy in Education in Sri Lanka

High literacy rate of the citizens - 92 % Positive driving force by the nation to implement ICT in Education system. Properly established and scattered 9714 schools provide easy access to the school community which helps to deliver the skills on ICT.

Cont

Opportunities of implementing ICT Policy in Education in Sri Lanka

Consistency of implementation can be maintained as all most all schools are administered by the government. Public Private sector partnership Rising demand of the career opportunities in ICT sector.
Cont

Challenges of implementing ICT Policy in Education in Sri Lanka

Lack of sufficient qualified Human Resources Administration regulations to establish separate ICT teacher cadre in schools. Require more funds for the implementation and maintenance of ICT labs. Cost of equipments and components.
Cont

Challenges of implementing ICT Policy in Education in Sri Lanka

Understand (knowledge?) on ICT among the adults /senior level officials. Inadequate knowledge in English (language barrier) Schools without electricity facility in rural areas. [35% of schools have no electricity. ] Unbearable internet and electricity bill for the schools of remote areas.

Private + Public Partnerships for Strengthening ICT Education in Sri Lanka

Microsoft Partners in Learning (PiL) technical assistance collaboration for teacher training. Intel Foundation assistance under World Ahead for teacher training. Dialog satellite TV channel dedicated for Education.

ICT Education special initiatives with Private Sector

National Teacher PC Drive. Innovative Teachers competition.

Same Destination Different Routes

SCHOOL AGE COHORT DISTRIBUTION
100 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ? AS PERCENTAGE of AGE COHORT 80 70 90 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

SCHOOL AGE COHORT DISTRIBUTION

100 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ? 90 AS PERCENTAGE of AGE COHORT 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

UNIV.

SLIATE

TE V

13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

A/L O/L

JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

TEVT 50% O / L 90%

A / L 45%

JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

PRIMARY SCHOOL

PRIMARY SCHOOL

Grade

Grade

PRE-SCHOOL COHORT

PRE-SCHOOL COHORT

Age 350 315 280 245 210 175 140 105 70 35 0

Age 350 315 280 245 210 175 140 105 70 35 0

APPROXIMATE NUMBERS (000)

APPROXIMATE NUMBERS (000)

Present

Future

SLIATE

NCoE

NCoE

UNIV.