IT drive at Royal College

by L. S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

Royal College is being developed to meet the challenges of the 21st century, said its Principal Upali Gunasekera.

He was addressing the opening ceremony of the new IT laboratory and the relaunch of the college website, www.royalcollege.lk Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena was the chief guest on the occasion.

The Royal College principal said the College had rendered great service to the country during its 175-year history. A project has been launched to produce responsible and worthy citizens, he said. The donation of 50 computers to the College IT Centre, providing IT knowledge to teachers, arranging Mobitel Wi-fi facilities for teachers' rest rooms were some of the initiatives launched to achieve the development priorities of the College, he said.

Royal College, gained global acclaim last year with Microsoft rating it among the 30 Global Pathfinder schools and placing it right on top of the list.

Addressing the meeting, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena said the improvements in the IT sector will make a great deal of impact on the students and their future as well.

The Presidential Secretariat together with the Education Ministry and other organisations initiated a program to promote IT and English education after President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared Year 2009, the 'year of IT' and English Education, the Minister said.

The country's IT literacy level was 30 percent last year; this would be improved to 60 percent by 2012, he said.Improvements in the IT sector will make a great impact on the students and their future, he said.