English as a Life Skill:

Two day workshop to improve English proficiency

A two day workshop of the English as a Life Skill programme was launched at BMICH aiming to test the spoken and listening skills of schoolchildren.

After the workshop the Sri Lankan government and the Indian government will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to improve English proficiency through English as a Life Skill programme.

The Presidential Task Force on English and Information Technology and the Education Ministry as a joint venture has initiated a programme to improve English in Sri Lanka. English as a Life Skill is a concept of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and he launched the National Road Map in 2009 to promote spoken/ communicative English skills in Sri Lanka.

Explaining the objective of the programme, Education Ministry Secretary H.M. Gunasekara said, "many countries have their own way in speaking English and there is no reason for Sri Lanka to be an exception. He stressed that children should not be deterred from speaking English our way."

English as a Life Skill promotes English language skills, across the country and so far it has received great success due to the guidance of the Presidential Task Force on English and IT, the Education Ministry and the Provincial Education Ministries. Presidential Task Force on English and IT Coordinator/Convener Sunimal Fernando, Education Ministry Secretary H.M. Gunasekara, Examinations Commissioner-General Anura Edirisinghe, National Education Institute Director-General Prof. Abeyrathna Banda, Hydrabad English Language University acting Vice Chancellor Amirthawali Hemalatha Nagarajan and Department chief and coordinator Prof. Geetha Dureirajan also attended the event.