In view of the ongoing lockdown in Sri Lanka caused by the COVID-19 threat, Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT), the pioneer in British higher education in Sri Lanka and the country’s premier IT and Business campus, has increased its ongoing series of online support seminars in ICT, that help prepare Ordinary Level (O/L) and Advanced Level (A/L) students for their examinations later this year.
With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing the country to a virtual standstill, students preparing to face the O/L and A/L examinations this year are greatly inconvenienced. Their school term was abruptly cut short disrupting their studies while they were restricted to their homes unable to attend school or tuition classes. As a responsible organisation that is always ready to help the young minds of the nation, IIT stepped forward to help these students continue their ICT studies. By utilizing its ICT expertise, IIT put together a series of informative online seminars that focused on the ICT subject for both O/L and A/L students.
IIT has been conducting these support seminars on a regular basis for several years with hundreds of schools and thousands of students across the island benefiting significantly. Given the current restrictions due to the lockdown, they provide the ideal platform for principals and teachers to educate their students in ICT thereby allowing them to continue with their studies without any disruptions and providing a much-needed boost to their attempts to cover their respective ICT subject syllabuses. The 2-hour seminars cover topics such as Internet of Things (IoT), Programming, Flowcharts and several others. They are conducted by a highly-experienced academic member of IIT and are of two types. The first type is specifically tailored to educate the audience on a topic put forward by a single school based on their requirements of the ICT syllabus. On average, around 100 students from a school participate in these types of seminars at any given time. The second type is a general seminar that covers a wide variety of ICT topics and is open to students from all schools across the island. Approximately 400 students took part in each of these seminars.
Sharing his views, Prof. Jayantha Wijeyaratne – Director of IIT stated, “These are trying times for the whole country and it is important that we all look at avenues to help each other in any way possible. The shutting down of schools was an important step in safeguarding our children from the COVID-19 disease but it does come at a price of disrupting their studies. We, at IIT, recognised that we can help out during this crisis by using our experience and knowledge in ICT to provide these online support seminars in ICT for O/L and A/L students. I am happy to note that the seminars we have carried out so far have been very successful with students from all parts of the island coming on board to learn from our very own team member. We hope to continue these seminars and do our best to help these students perform well in the upcoming exams.”
Prof. Wijeyaratne also emphasized, “It is important that we all follow the instructions given by the authorities to the letter to overcome the huge challenges posed by this disease. We must all stay at home, practice good personal hygiene at all times and maintain social distancing. By being disciplined and carefully adhering to these instructions, I am certain we can beat this disease and eventually return to our normal lives, stronger and more united as a nation than ever before.”
IIT was established in 1990 as the first private higher education institute that awards reputed British degrees in the field of ICT and Business. IIT is an award-winning campus offering internal postgraduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Westminster, UK and the Robert Gordon University, UK. IIT has played a pivotal role in strengthening the IT and Business sectors in Sri Lanka over the years by producing world-class graduates. Since its inception in 1990, IIT has produced over 3,000 graduates that are now based in 25 countries. These graduates have gone on to become successful entrepreneurs and IT/Business professionals in both local and international corporate and government entities. They have played a pivotal role in empowering over 250 multinational and local blue-chip companies by holding key strategic positions while contributing immensely towards the growth of their respective organizations.
Further information on IIT’s Online Support Seminars in ICT and how a school can register for them can be obtained by contacting us through the official IIT Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/iitsl or by calling 0766 760 760.