Improving English, IT knowledge

Most of you may have read about the President declaring this year as the Year of English and IT.

This declaration has been made with the objective of popularising English and Information Technology in all areas of the country and among all segments of the population without restricting these tools to urban areas. It has been found that people, especially from rural areas in the country are sadly lacking knowledge and awareness about them.

Presidential Advisor and Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on English and IT, Sunimal Fernando said the President's vision was to create a 'Rural Knowledge Society' and a 'Rural Knowledge Economy' as the foundation on which a 'National Knowledge Society' would be built. English and IT would be the cornerstones of such a society. The project would be carried out, for English teachers of the 3,200 strong private tutoring sector, with the assistance of the English and Foreign Languages University of Hyderabad in India and the Board of Investment. A programme for Distance Teaching of English would also start soon; this would be a 200-module Basic English Course to be aired on national TV. Measures to disseminate IT skills in the country have already been taken by the Information Communication Technology Agency Sri Lanka through the Secondary Education Modernisation Project, the Education for Knowledge Society Project and the Education Sector Development Grant programme of the Education Ministry.

Nenasalas, the rural knowledge centre/rural tele-centre programme was one such outstanding initiave. It is now a show-piece for the entire South Asian region, Fernando said.

Early childhood development

The development and protection of children under 18 years should be entrusted to the existing Provincial Committees to which the responsibilities of early childhood development and protection are already assigned. A memorandum declaring thus, submitted by Minister of Child Development and Women's Empowerment Sumedha G. Jayasena, received Cabinet approval recently. Approval has been given so that a wide range of functions could be carried out by the Provincial Committees through the delegation of responsibility on the affairs of development and protection of children.

Birth and death anniversaries from March 01-07:

March 1

Birth of Duncan White, Sri Lankan athlete and the winner of Sri Lanka's first Olympic medal, in 1918.

March 2

Death of D. H. Lawrence, English writer, in 1930.

Death of Munidasa Cumarathunga, prominent Sinhala author and linguist in 1944.

March 3

Birth of Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish born physicist and inventor of the telephone, in 1847.

Birth of P. B. Alwis Perera, Sinhala poet, in 1917.

March 4

Death of J. W. R. Illangakoon, first Ceylonese attorney general, in 1941.

March 6

Death of Pearl S. Buck, American writer, in 1973.

March 7

Death of Aristide Briand, seven times Prime Minister of France during 1909-1932, in 1932.

Special events which took place in history, from March 01-07:

March 1

The bridge over the Mahaweli Ganga at Katugastota was opened for traffic in 1860.

March 2

Ehelepola Adikaram was arrested by the British in 1818.

March 3

National Day of Morocco.

March 4

The Colombo Central Railway Station (Fort) opened in 1917.

The road to Sri Pada was electrified for the first time in 1950.

March 5

Opening of the Stanley Power Station at Kolonnawa in 1929.

March 7

National Salt Corporation was established in 1958.

Compiled by Asha Senevirathne

Preventing landslides and earthslips

There are many parts of Sri Lanka which are prone to earthslips and landslides. The Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces, as you may know, are some of them.

Many valuable lives have been lost and property worth millions of rupees have been destroyed due to these disasters.

Steps are now being taken by the National Building Research Institute with the assistance of the Disaster Management Ministry to implement a project to prevent landslides and earthslips in several identified places in Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya and Matale districts.

Peradeniya has been identified as one of the major areas that are vulnerable for landslides. Prompt action had been taken to prevent any such situation there, a spokesman for the Institute said.

Another town that faces a landslide threat is Padiyapelella town, one of the trade hubs of the Nuwara-Eliya district.

With the systematic use of land and drainage systems, the Institute had taken measures to prevent any landslides in this region.

A special plan has also been implemented in Matale to prevent a recurrence(happening again) of earthslips in this area; Matale is frequently affected by these natural disasters.

The project is expected to be completed within three years. Funds worth Rs. 51 million have already been allocated for the first stage of the project.

Staging of CSDP play

The latest production of 'Swarna Rangamandala', the stage play produced by the Children Skills Development Programme (CSDP), would be staged at the John De Silva Theatre, Colombo at 9.30am today.

The play was produced by the CSDP in 1996 and had been staged over 20 times over the past 12 years.

All artistes who had ever taken part in this play have been invited by the CSDP to be present on this day.

An instant art and essay competition based on the drama would also take place in concurrence with the drama.

The Magic of Nature

'The Magic of Nature', an art exhibition presented by nine students of Miss Lathifa Ismail's School of Art, was held recently at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. The artists who took part were Sahani de Silva (7), Sarith Ratnayake (9), Nayali Karunatilake (7), Githara Gunawardena (6), Thalin Manale (6), Ayana de Zoyza (6), Ashinsa de Silva Wijeyerane (13), Sahani Welikala (13) and Nadeesha Pieris (17). Ayana's little brother three-year-old Arik de Zoysa took part as the guest artist.

The proceeds from the exhibition, which was over Rs. 300,000, were donated to the Children's Cancer Ward.

A large canvas which showed the combined talents of all nine artists was auctioned and fetched Rs. 84,000.

The chief guest was the well-known artist Ms. Marie Alles.

Manoshi's exhibition

'Still and Creative', an art exhibition by Manoshi Hansapani, a student of Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya, Colombo 7 was held recently at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. Manoshi is a talented artist who had won three silver medals in the Shanker's International Children's Art Competition in 2002, 2003 and 2006; and certificates at the Children's Day Art Competitition - 2004, Solias Mendis Art Competition - 2004, an art competition organised by Ananda College - 2006 (first place) and an art competition organised by Thurstan College - 2008 (second place).

Completion of Deduru Oya project in 2010

The Deduru Oya irrigation project, the largest in the North Western Province which would provide water for paddy farming during both Yala and Maha seasons, is expected to be completed before 2010. The project would make it possible to cultivate 30,000 acres with paddy and 2,000 acres with other crops.

The main objective of the project is to provide all basic facilities required by the farmers who settle there so they can carry out their work without a problem. The project is also expected to solve the drinking water problem prevailing in areas such as Nikaweratiya, Galgamuwa, Maho, Kuliyapitiya, Panduwasnuwara and Wariyapola. During the reign of King Parakramabahu the Great, there had been 51 tanks in the North Western Province. However, the Government now has to spend around Rs. 125 million annually on drought relief in the dry zone areas of the North Western Province. This situation is expected to be eased after the completion of the Deduru Oya project and over 500,000 people in the province are expected to benefit.

The massive project began in 2006 with the Treasury allocating Rs. 6,250 million for this purpose. Local funds and local engineering techniques have been used on this project.

Another plus point of the project would be the ability to generate electricity; it would produce 2.5 megawatts of power which would benefit the many under-developed villages in the area.