Army skills training for undergrads

by Ramani Kangaraarachchi

A group of students from Sri Jayawardenapura University were at the Sri Lanka Military Academy in Diyatalawa recently. They went in search of new horizons and to develop skills within them.

Although it was quite unusual to see university students getting involved in adventurous type activities, the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce correctly identified the need of developing their skills in todays world.

Of course there had been certain allegations from the industry that universities emphasize more on knowledge than on skills development. Shifting from the traditional teacher-centred learning methods to new student-centred learning methods created this situation.

However, a group of 49 divided into five groups both girls and boys were overjoyed and transformed with the training given at the Military Academy for a week.

Areas such as Leadership, Effective Communication, Teamwork, Confidence Building and Time Management skills were covered extensively by a capable team of the Military Academy headed by its' Commandant, Brigadier Janaka Walgama. "A superb set of students" was his comment at the certificate awards ceremony to the students. The training gave them an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained through the academic programmes to develop their skills."

"We learnt hell of a lot, There is no other place as SLMA. We unleashed our potential at Diyatalawa, It was Sri Lanka Army before, Now it is our Army, were some of the comments made by those students.

Professor Narada Warnasuriya was highly impressed by the change of the students after training. "You are fit to face the future challenges, Dean of the Management Faculty H. Silva said. The award ceremony was held at Wadduwa Holiday Resort.

Sakuntala Geganage and Sirimevan Senevirathna won the awards for best (female and male) performance.