A ceremony to hand over Scholarship Certificates to 40 Sri Lankan English language teachers will be held at the Indian Cultural Centre (ICC), No. 133, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo-04, at 1100 hrs on Monday, 7th September 2009. The Scholarships have been awarded under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme of the Government of India.

The Certificates will be handed over by Hon. Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Education of Sri Lanka and H.E. Mr. Alok Prasad, High Commissioner of India.

These 40 Teachers who have been selected from different parts of Sri Lanka will undergo training for a period of three months at the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, India. They will leave for India on 15th September 2009 and return on 9th December 2009.

This is the second batch of Sri Lankan English language teachers undergoing training in India. Earlier in 2008, scholarships had been awarded by Government of India to the first batch of 40 Sri Lankan teachers to study at EFLU, Hyderabad. These Sri Lankan teachers have since returned to Sri Lanka and are serving as master teacher trainers.

It may be recalled that Government of India and Government of Sri Lanka had signed an MOU to establish a Centre of English Language Training at Peradeniya, Sri Lanka on 3rd September 2009.

These initiatives are contributions of Government of India to the Presidential Project to develop “English as a Life Skill” in Sri Lanka.

September 4, 2009
COLOMBO