Over 600 Nenasala centres islandwide:
ICT industry gets impetus
The President said the country must preserve and cherished our
cultural value when entering the world of science and technology.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa participating at the Nenasala centre
Convention 2010 held at Temple Trees recently, said he was pleased with
the success achieved through the Nenasala project under which currently
there were more than 600 Nenasala centres islandwide.
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A Nenasala |
The ICT literacy which was around five per cent at the time the
Nenasala project was launched has now reached the 30 percent mark.
“Thanks to these Nenasala centres, people in distant rural villages
are now in communication with the whole world. Now we are in an era in
which the world is equipped with a deep knowledge about computer
technology. We should think more of the future and our children. Where
would we be in ten years’ time. We should create for the future
generation an environment where technology could be used for good
governance and righteous social life,” the President said.
Referring to the youth in the North and the East who had been long
denied the march towards knowledge and for whom now the path of
knowledge is wide open, the President said: “We have now redeemed the
country from terrorism. Some elements wanted to divide the country. They
prevented children from having access to knowledge.
They gave the youth T56 instead of knowledge. We want to put things
right. We want to give the youth what had been denied to them. We want
to give them knowledge. We cannot let the forward march of the country
to be reversed. There is no way we can permit democracy to be replaced
by dictatorship. Now that the Nenasalas are available islandwide people
in the rural villages can now access the internet and know about persons
like Hitler and Pol Pot. We should move from the era of terror to an era
of peace. On a note of warning about the traps that are around to take
hold of the innocent the President said: “We must guard ourselves
against getting entrapped into a reversal of good things we have
achieved.
Now that the division of the country by war has failed, some are
trying to take the country back to the period of strife and disunity by
other means and agreements.
Our hope is to make the future generation equipped with the knowledge
and skills that are necessary for them to be on a par with their
counterparts in the most advanced countries of the world while
preserving the pristine cultural and spiritual values of the Motherland.
May you have a brighter future”, the President concluded offering his
greetings to the audience consisting mainly of the 600 odd Nenasala
centre owners and operators. Science and Technology Minister Prof Tissa
Vitharana said the Nenasalas established islandwide has contributed much
to bridge the gap between the city and the village.
This has been further supported by the Vidatha centres.
The Minister also referred to nanotechnology and disclosed that steps
were being taken to set up a nanotechnology centre in Sri Lanka.
Urging the audience to be industrious like countries that have made
great strides in technology the Minister said, “Countries like the US,
Japan and Germany are far ahead of many countries in the world. However
countries like South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia which were
economically of a level on par with Sri Lanka have improved to a higher
level by proper use of technology.
Functions like this convention will encourage the owners and
operators of Nenasalas to continue the good work they are doing in the
village towards taking the dividends of ICT to every citizen”.
The Minister also commended ICTA for the contribution it was offering
for making the benefits of ICT accrue to the people.
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