The local office of globally dominant chipmaker Intel has signed two funding agreements with Sri Lanka's Ministry of Education (MOE). The first extends the existing Intel-funded website skool.net with a Sinhala language version. Started in 2007, skool.net is currently available in English only.
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| The Minister and Intel officials at the launch |
The second agreement signed between Intel and the MOE continues Intel's funding of the Sri Lanka Science and Engineering Fair (SLSEF) for 2011. This December event is the local leg of the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), also sponsored by Intel, which selects secondary school students to represent Sri Lanka in competition at the US-based ISEF.
According to a company statement, during the agreement signing, Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardana had said of skool.net; "The insight gained through these programmes will enable these teachers and their students to improve their level of knowledge. These programs have been tried and tested across the world and will go a long way in enhancing our students’ level of knowledge in the fields of mathematics and science and technology. I have no doubt that these students here stand to benefit from this website as it provides various tools that will eventually make them better learners in due course.”
Meanwhile, Intel's statement also revealed that SLSEF competitors are "selected from the Science Research Project competition of the National Science Foundation (NSF) of Sri Lanka and the annual Junior Inventor of the Year (JIY) competition held by the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL). The 10 best projects from these are brought together to compete at SLSEF. The winners of this local competition go on to vie in the world’s largest pre-college science competition that brings together thousands of young scientists who share ideas, showcase cutting-edge science, and compete for scholarships." |
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