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English Language training:
Indian assistance for Lanka
Dharma Sri Abeyratne
The Governments of Sri Lanka and India entered into a Memorandum of
Understanding to set up an India-Sri Lanka Centre for English Language
Training at Peradeniya yesterday. The MoU was signed by Indian High
Commissioner Alok Prasad, Vice Chancellor of the English and Foreign
Language University, Prof. Abhay Maurya, Education Minister Susil
Premajayanth and Secretary to the President Lalith Weerathunga.
It was signed at a ceremony held at the Presidential Secretariat.
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The signing ceremony was held at Presidential Secretariat
yesterday. The MoU was signed by High Commissioner of India
to Sri Lanka Alok Prasad and. Prof. Abhay Maurya, Vice
Chancellor of the English and Foreign Language University (EFLU)
on the Indian side and on the Sri Lankan side Education
Minister Susil Premajayanth and Secretary to the President
Lalith Weeratunga signed the agreement. Minister Dr. Sarath
Amunugama was present. Picture by Nalin Hewapathirana |
India is in front when considering communicative English and the IT
sectors. Since Sri Lankan youths lag behind in the job market as a
result of not having a proper knowledge of communicative English the
Presidential Task Force considered to have the assistance of Indian
Government.
“When it came to that, India was keen on assisting us to train our
English teachers and establishing the ISLCELT in Sri Lanka. India has
already offered scholarships to train forty English teachers each year,”
the Coordinator (English) and Convenor of the Presidential Task Force of
English and IT, Sunimal Fernando said.
The Centre which will include a 40 unit state-of-the-art digital
language laboratory will have the services of two professors specialized
in the teaching of Spoken English from the English and Foreign Languages
University (EFLU) in Hyderabad, the World Centre of Excellence for the
teaching of English to non-English speaking people.
The new Centre is being gifted by India to the President in support
of the Presidential Initiative on ‘English as a Life Skill’.
The professors, who have already been deputed by EFLU are expected to
arrive in Sri Lanka shortly.
The setting up of the ISLCELT is a further step in the strengthening
of the partnership between EFLU Hyderabad and the Ministry of Education
which was initiated by the Presidential Secretariat and the then High
Commissioner for India in Sri Lanka, Nirupama Rao now Foreign Secretary
of India.
EFLU has already trained 40 Master Trainers in the delivery of Spoken
English Teaching Skills to English teachers on scholarships donated by
the Indian Government to the President.
They in turn have trained over 2,000 English teachers since their
return. Forty more Master Trainers will be trained at EFLU as Indian
government scholarship holders from September 16 to December 8, this
year.
In January 2009 the Cabinet endorsed the need for a paradigm shift in
English language teaching in the country.
The Cabinet decided that with the development of appropriate teacher
capacity and skill, the English syllabus and curricula followed in
schools should be changed in the direction of job-oriented
spoken/communicative English and away from grammar and structure based
courses that are currently delivered. |
