Special centre to improve English language / IT skills

by Ananda KANNANGARA

A Provincial English Language Supporting Centre (PELSC) which would benefitl over 300,000 school children in nearly 500 public schools in the Northern Province and islandwide will be opened by the Education Ministry in June. The main objective of constructing such an institution, which will be conducted under the supervision of the English and Foreign Languages Branch of the Ministry of Education (EFLB) is to pave the way for school children in the Province to improve their English Language proficiency.

Director, EFLB, Lionel Premachandra told the Junior Observer that a research conducted recently had revealed that nearly 80 per cent of school children and recent school-leavers in the Northern province do not show positive results in the English Language and this had prompted the PELSC to set up an English Language Supporting Centre and initiate numerous English courses for the benefit of such children.

He said although a majority of the students in the province even in the past, had shown great enthusiasm in learning the English Language, they were unable to realise their goals due to various reasons, especially due to the war situation.

"With the dawn of peace after nearly three decades, these children have focused attention towards learning English and are also gaining IT knowledge which will enable them to pursue higher studies and secure employment .

He said Rs. 60 million was spent only for the construction work of the building which consists of an office room, an auditorium to accommodate 150 persons, two large classrooms to accommodate 15 students each, a hostel for 80 students and a computer centre with 20 modern computers.Director Premachandra said that four officials from the Education Department have been appointed to supervise all educational programmes conducted at the centre. He said steps will also be taken to conduct special English courses for public servants in the Province.

New residents at the zoo

Did you visit the National Zoological Gardens at Dehiwela recently? If you did you would have seen the new animals that have become a big attraction these days..

The pair of rare white tigers are indeed awesome and many throng this place to see these magnificent creatures. But the tigers are not the only animals who are new to the zoo.

Under the animal exchange programme the zoo has been gifted with three more animals who though not as large or magnificent as the tigers are still special because they are rare. They are three ring-tailed lemurs (two females and a male) gifted by the Rare Species Breeding Centre of London. In exchange we have presented them with two giant squirrels and a rusty spotted cat.