Intel and Sri Lankan government are working together with former's aim at investing in public-private ventures for the advancement and spread of IT knowledge in the country. Having invested substantially in the country's education sector in terms of enhancing IT knowledge among students and especially teachers, Intel held discussions with the Education Ministrythe private sector and other PC manufacturers in the country last week in a bid to increase the Intel Teach programme, and to provide low priced PCs in addition to improving WiMax solutions.
The WiMax system will be in place this year. Similar models will be carried out by Intel in other countries like the Philippines, Japan and Malaysia, in order to reach out to the rural areas of those countries, increase users and lower the cost of PCs. With Intel's focus being on education, the organisation stated that most have not fully benefited from the Internet wave. In this respect, Intel is currently in the process of targeting the education of teachers in the IT sector in a bid to assist students to have a more interactive method of education through the use of computers. In addition, Intel aims at accelerating its assistance to the north and east of the country, while simultaneously assisting students in science and engineering. The Education Ministry has had discussions with regard to teacher training in the north and east; the government has agreed to assist in the expansion of this plan. ICT basics of teaching will be provided for teachers on how to integrate the school curriculum with ICT, enabling them to conduct their classes for students through the use of the PCs in an interactive mode. With 10 million teachers trained around the world, Intel Teach has conducted this programme in Sri Lanka. It has already targeted 10,000 teachers and is continuing with the project, explained Sri Lanka Liaison Office Country Business Manager, Indika de Zoysa. Discussions with the Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission in Sri Lanka (TRCSL) Director General Priyantha Kariyapperuma were positive. Assistance in terms of expanding on the scope for the use of WiMax solutions in Sri Lanka with the formulation of policies and knowledge transfer were discussed. He noted that the Telcos also had positive sentiments in assisting for the provision of WiMax solutions and broadband capability. During its meeting with the private sector, Intel geared to provide necessary background in the assistance for the growth of businesses in the country by educating consumers, bringing out new chips and talking about the roadmap of Intel.
