Kataragama Nenasala awareness campaign, a success

A program to create awareness about Nenasala (Wisdom Outlets) was held during the Kataragama Asela Perahera season at the Kataragama sacred premises. The staff from several organisations including the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) and the Nenasalas in the Hambantota District particularly those at Kataragama, Tissa, Suriyawewa, Moneragala and Badulla offered support to this awareness program. Deepika Priyadarshani of the Suriyawewa Nenasala and Krishnasamy Kantheepan of the Badulla Nenasala who are also 'ICT ambassadors' said that the support and facilities ICTA provided for the program were invaluable.

There are 31 Nenasalas in the Hambantota district while the total number of Nenasalas islandwide including the North and the East now stands at 600. Twenty-two Nenasala owners function as 'ICT ambassadors' in Sri Lanka.

The title has been given to selected Nenasala owners by ICTA in recognition of the significant contribution made by them in bringing the benefits of ICT to the people of the relevant areas.

The ICTA said that the objective of appointing these ICT ambassadors was to motivate them further in their endeavour to make ICT benefit the other areas as well.

Nenasalas or Wisdom outlets as they are called are the unique Telecentre brand of Sri Lanka and were a brainchild of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

At a time when world funding bodies proposed the setting up of internet-cafes in cities of Sri Lanka in a manner that would cater only to the rich elite, President Rajapaksa decided that Nenasalas or Wisdom Outlets should be set up instead islandwide to cater to the poor rural folk. As intended under the Mahinda Chintana policy statement the Nenasalas have greatly contributed to raising the IT-literacy of Sri Lanka to its current 30 percent mark from less than 1 percent in 2004.

The Nenasalas, help all categories of people to find IT solutions in their fields including farmers to get speedy information about cultivation practices, pest control methods, seed material, marketing and weather.

While they serve as a boon to students to be engaged in their subject-wise studies and in particular English and aid job-seekers to know what jobs are available and how they could prepare themselves to obtain them. Nenasalas serve as the centre in making life comfortable to the people through the use of ICT.