Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that following the Industrial Revolution, a technological revolution has taken place and as a result, courses will be designed to enable every university student to learn Information Technology (IT).
“Accordingly, students at the university, whether they choose IT as a subject or not, will pass out as students equipped with IT skills, the Minister said. The Minister further stated that everybody recognizes that this process should be introduced in schools as well,” the Minister said.
Minister Gunawardena was speaking at the opening ceremony of the three storied building of the Faculty of Technology of the Malabe Boys’ College on Wednesday. “According to recorded history, the Kings of Mayadunna and Rajasinghe used indigenous technology to achieve victory over the Portuguese, and those weapons were manufactured with the technology available in the country at the time. History tells us that these were some of the most unique weapons in the world,” Minister Gunawardena said.
He said that technology was a very specialised subject and the steel industry was the basis of a country’s industrial development.
The Minister also recollected the history of the establishment of the Steel Corporation. He said that with the cooperation of Russia, the steel industry in Sri Lanka was established step by step and the iron ore resources in the country enabled the development.
He also said that if the Steel Corporation had worked out a plan with the universities of the country, we would not have had to hand over expensive steel projects to overseas companies.
The Minister emphasised that the Industrial Revolution had been won by countries based on the steel industry.
He added that the Ministry of Education’s plan covers all areas that could contribute to opening the doors of technology to all children, especially children studying information technology, who will be able to access expert knowledge that is not available in the classroom as the country opens to digitalisation.
Minister Gunawardena said that it can be transformed into development and for the advancement of the country.
