Nenasala, new year gift to Nagadeepaya

The Government gave an apt new year gift to the technology-hungry youth and public of Jaffna at the dawn of 2009.

That was at the conclusion of the mega industrial and educational exhibition and trade fair held from 27th to 29th of December at the Jaffna Vembadi Girls’ High School and Jaffna Central College.

On the sidelines of the exhibition which registered a count of over 400,000 on Monday (29) the fifth and the latest Nenasala in the Jaffna district installed at the Vembady Girls’ High School as a technology stall of the exhibition drew its own expected crowds from day one with over 20,000 entrants on the last day.

The gift of the Nenasala converted from a model techno centre at Vembady to a permanent knowledge centre at the Jaffna Secretariat replacing its former reception office was a sequel to the request from no other than the originator of the concept of the mega exhibition.

On the request of Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri, whose brainchild the “Future Minds of Jaffna” exhibition was, the model Nenasala set up at Vembady was re-set at the Jaffna District Secretariat as the fifth permanent Nenasala in the Jaffna district.

About half of the population that visited the Nenasala consisted of students and youth who grabbed the opportunity to use the facilities at the Nenasala which they said were not available to them elsewhere.

The objective of the exhibition was to open the ‘doors of opportunity to the youth of the North deprived for long under the cloud of the conflict, and to develop partnerships among all regions of Sri Lanka not only from an economic development perspective but also from a culture and unity aspect.

True to the objective of the exhibition, the ICTA initiated Nenasala which was a component of the exhibition opened the ‘doors of opportunity to the youth of the North deprived for long under the cloud of the conflict’.

Referring to the gift of the fifth Nenasala Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda who inaugurated the Nenasala. With the latest Nenasala the total number of Nenasala in the district Jaffna now stands at five.

The total number of Nenasalas island-wide now stands at 571.

Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda was the Chief Guest. The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) the single apex body responsible for implementing the eSri Lanka development initiative has made preparations to set up 330 other Nenasalas during the first quarter of this year.