US help to train English teachers in Sri Lanka

(June 09, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) US Embassy joins hands with Cities of Excellence Initiative to train English teachers from different parts of Sri Lanka.

Thirty English teachers from the districts of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Jaffna and Batticaloa received their certificates recently after successful completion of a three week training program.

This pilot program on English teacher training is a component of the Government of Sri Lanka’s Cities of Excellence Initiative. The Ministry of Education with the assistance of the Presidential Task Force on English and IT implemented the project.

It was coordinated by the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) and supported by the US Embassy, Colombo and the Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO. The United States Embassy provided the trainers Mr. Daniel Ringold and Ms. Frances Westbrook in addition to financial assistance.

Dr. Sunimal Fernando, Presidential Advisor and Coordinator, Presidential Task Force on English and IT, shared his aspirations of following-up the project with reciprocal exchanges of teachers between the North and the South. Referring to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s vision, Dr. Fernando also stressed the importance for members of Sinhalese and Tamil communities of relating first to each other in their own languages, and using English to “relate to the outside world, to access knowledge and technology.”

At the award of certificates to the teachers who completed the pilot project, Mr. Jeff Anderson of the US Embassy said, though this particular session has reached its completion, we don’t see it as an end but a beginning; and we at the US Embassy are eager to participate in the next steps of the program.

-Sri Lanka Guardian