Exchanging the MoU (from left): Mr. V. K. Nanayakkara, Secretary to the Ministry of Education; Mr. Anura Dissanayake, Director of the ADB-funded SEMP Project; Professor Gajendra Singh, Dean of AIT Extension and Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe, AIT's Director of Promotion Activities.
AIT - SLMHRDECA signed SEMP accord
AIT and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs (SLMHRDECA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on February 19, 2004 for an Asian Development Bank - funded program called Secondary Education Modernization Project (SEMP).
Under the MoU the Sri Lankan Ministry of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs is sending about 200 teachers and provincial subject coordinators at AIT for training. The goal is that these teachers will become provincial trainers, with trainers returning from AIT to their provinces, and immediately embarking on a program of training for teachers responsible for English-medium instruction. The Ministry envisages the establishment of provincial training centers as essential to improving the quality of training and the competence of teachers nationwide.
From left: Mr. Anura Dissanayake, Director of the ADB-funded SEMP Project;
Hon. Prof. Dr. Karunasana Kodittuwaku, Sri Lanka's Minister of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs; Professor Gajendra Singh, Dean of AIT Extension and Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe, AIT's Director of Promotion Activities.
The Institute was represented at the signing in Colombo by Professor Gajendra Singh, Dean of AIT Extension and Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe, AIT's Director of Promotion Activities. Meetings were also held with Hon. Prof. Dr. Karunasana Kodittuwaku, Sri Lanka's Minister of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs;
Mr. V. K. Nanayakkara, Secretary to the Ministry of Education; and Mr. Anura Dissanayake, Director of the ADB-funded SEMP Project.
The successful realization of the project follows a visit by Mr. Nanayakkara and Mr. Dissanayake to AIT in June 2003, and subsequent visits to Sri Lanka by AIT Extension and Language Center staff with Mr. Jayasinghe.
In a related development, the AIT Extension welcomed at a ceremony held at the AIT Extension the first 25 Sri Lankan teacher trainers to AIT on Monday, February 23 to attend the course. The ceremony was presided over jointly by AIT Provost Professor Mario Tabucanon and the First Secretary of the Sri Lankan Embassy, Bangkok Mr. A.S. Khan who read a speech on behalf of the Sri Lankan Ambassador, H.E. Hewa Palihakkara. Mr. Khan was delighted to find two old classmates from university in the first batch.
In the evening of February 22, a welcome dinner was hosted by AIT President Professor Jean-Louis Armand to the first of the eight Sri Lankan group comprised of trainers of teachers of science and technology in Grades 6-11.