20 Nenasala operators visit South India

Twenty Nenasala operators visited South India recently on a study tour to the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation [MSSRF] and Telecentres in Pondicherry. Their mission was to gain more knowledge regarding telecentre operations and community work carried out.

The Nenasala operators spent nine days in India participating in workshops, group sessions and field tours; visiting Telecentres in Pondicherry.

The scholarships for these 20 Nenasala operators were awarded to them by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the launch of the 500th Nenasala at the Presidential Secretariat in January this year. The study tour was organised by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka [ICTA] while their airfare was sponsored by the Presidential Secretariat. The workshops and field tour was sponsored by Telecentre.org; IDRC's Telecentre development initiative to support the Telecentre movement around the world.

Today the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka has set up over 500 Nenasalas covering 23 districts; all of which are in rural areas. This is to ensure that ICT based services are offered to rural communities who cannot afford such services or do not have the facilities available.

Today a large number of schoolchildren benefit by these centres to learn IT and access the internet, assisting them to enter the information society. The latest survey findings reveal that Nenasalas have contributed greatly towards finding employment via learning IT and also through the internet.

The survey also points out that while Nenasalas have greater challenges in attracting the adult population - there is a considerable amount of content available for them. Most Government websites now offer services in all three languages and the relevant government forms can be downloaded.

All Government websites are also being made available through the internet, while most of the information related to Government services could be accessed through the Government Information Centre (GIC) which is another initiative action by the ICTA.