Web Patasala to develop IT among schoolchildren

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The importance of expanding the knowledge of Information Technology (IT) of the 4.3 million schoolchildren in the country was highlighted by Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane at a ceremony held in Colombo recently to coincide with the launching of the newly initiated ' Web Patasala’ educational program.

The Minister said the 'Web Patasala’ was a concept of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to empower the student generation with information technology, and this would be further developed by providing schools free laptops with internet facilities.

It will help them to gain a sound knowledge on local and international information, the Minister said.

He told the Junior Observer that children could also gather various other details for their school educational activities through the Internet.

“Therefore the newly launched 'Web Patasala’ program will immensely help our schoolchildren to broaden their knowledge on international studies,” he said.

Speaking about the distribution of free laptops, the Minister said the first phase of the programme has already commenced and 340 schools islandwide have been provided with laptops along with dongles.

Minister Gunawardane also focused attention on the Government's novel programme of developing 5,000 schools and assured that all these schools will be provided with laptops and internet connections, so that a knowledge of computers and the Internet will be acquired by children, not only in the urban areas, but also in rural and remote areas.He thanked the State and the Private sector for extending a helping hand to make this 'Web Patasala’ programme a success.

[News in brief]

BY ROHANA JAYALAL

Railway services to be extended to Kataragama

The Government proposes to expand the railway services up to Kataragama in three stages. Stage one will cover Matara to Beliatte (27 km), stage two Beliatta to Hambanthota (48 km) and Stage 3 from Hambanthota to Kataragama (39.5 km).

This project will facilitate cargo transport to and from the Hambantota Harbour and the Mattala Internatonal Airport.

China is to fund the 114.5 Km Matara - Kataragama Railway line extension project.

A high level team from the Ministry of Transport has visited the Chinese capital Beijing to discuss funding arrangements for this project via China's Exim Bank. Sources from the Ministry of Transport said that the discussion by the team led by Secretary Dhammika Perera will centre on concluding the financing for the extension between Matara and Beliatta track spanning 27 kilometres estimated to cost 270 million U.S.dollars. They said that funding for the follow up extensions up to Kataragama will also be discussed.

Project to improve IT in schools

In parallel to the programme already underway to upgrade 1000 selected Secondary schools and 5000 Primary schools, to uplift the school system in the country, a three year special project aimed at providing IT educational facilities will also be launched. Under this new programme internet facilities as well as educational software and teacher training to 5000 primary schools, including 1,590 small rural schools where the student population is less than 50 will be provided.The project is being implemented by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) in association with the Education Ministry.

The project will target each Administrative District every month. In the first two months of the year, Badulla and Jaffna districts will be targeted.It will be carried out throughout the island within the next 24 months.

The proposed activities include provision of computers,computer accessories and furniture to selected schools in each district, filtered Internet facilities through the school network and training of at least two teachers .

New Disney ship to be christened in NYC

New Yorkers driving along the West Side of Manhattan could see a pair of mouse ears atop a cruise ship at a Hudson River pier.That's no mirage. That's the symbol of Mickey Mouse on Disney Cruise Line's newest ship, Disney Fantasy, which arrived in New York on February 28 after traveling nearly 3,800 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from the shipyards where it was built in Bremerhaven, Germany. The 4,000-passenger ship was christened in New York on March 1,and then sailed to its new home in Port Canaveral. The Fantasy will sail on seven-night Caribbean cruises starting March 31.

The Fantasy is the twin of the Disney Dream, which debuted a year ago and also sails from Port Canaveral. The Fantasy and Dream are the line's first new vessels since it launched in 1998 with two ships.

New York (AP)

Promo on water usage in food done by FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),the coordinating agency for this year's World Water Day, has launched a new 30 second promo to help promote awareness on how much water is required to make the food we eat. The promo spot has been done in three languages with more such material to be done in the near future.