India to boost English training infrastructure in Sri Lanka

Colombo, Jan 18 (PTI) India will help set up a three-tier English training system in Sri Lanka to boost English language training infrastructure in the island nation. The Indian government will provide appropriate equipment and teaching aids for setting up a language laboratory of 30 computer units in each of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, according to an Indian High Commission statement today. The project, besides enhancing the English Language training infrastructure in Sri Lanka, will help raise the general level of proficiency of various sections of society in the language as well as impart training in the use of English. It will also familiarise English language teachers from schools, colleges and universities in Sri Lanka on recent trends in teaching and upgrading their skills, the statement said. The project forms part of development co-operation with Sri Lanka, with the Indian government attaching top priority to the education sector. Other India-funded projects implemented to assist the education sector include setting up of 40 e-Learning Centres in eastern, western and southern provinces during 2007-10, and renovation of 79 war damaged schools in the north. Supply of 1,260 computers and 218 laser printers to 607 schools of the eastern province, setting up of a Siddha Faculty at Trincomalee and gifting of 110 buses to education institutions to assist school-going children have also been undertaken. PTI