ICTA BCL World Book Day disseminates info on ICT dividends

The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) partnered with the British Council Library, Colombo in celebrating the World Book Day last Saturday.

Amidst fun and fantasy with interactive story telling for young learners, treasure hunt for adults and opportunities for walking away with gifts at the end of fantasy dressing up like a favourite character in a book and competitions including magic balloons organised by BCL, ICTA team made its own offers to the visitors to the Global Book Day.

What the ICTA team offered was also fun. You just dial 1919 using any phone within 8.00 a.m. and 8 .00 p.m. and you walk away with a gift being informed in a courteous manner of the Government Institution that should be contacted for solving your problem.

That is only one of the many ways the dividends of ICT are carried to the people, especially the less privileged put in place under the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Services and facilities they talked about besides the Government Information Centre (GIC) more popularly known as 1919, included the Lanka Government Network, Revenue Licence, and the 600 Nenasalas set up islandwide with facilities for internet and email similar to those available at the British Council Library, though in a less cozy way.

A special contribution by ICTA on this World Book Day conducted at the British Council Library Colombo was the gift of three copies of the English cum Sinhala ICTA publication.

Numerations in the Sinhala Language. Authored by Harsha Wijayawardhana of UCSC, edited by Aruni Gunatilleke of ICTA the work inter alia shows that Sinhala numerals were used in the Kandyan Convention signed between the Kandyan chieftains and the British Governor in 1815.