ICT literacy in SriLanka
I think Sri Lanka has nearly 10 year history of ICT. Sri Lanka got the information about ICT within a short time, because earlier people didn`t know the importance & value of Sri Lanka. During 2006 to 2012 Sri Lanka has got this ICT knowledge quickly. This happened due to globalization. New terms such as e-commerce, e-mail, e-education of ICT was introduced to the Sri Lanka as a result of globalization. These terms are mostly used in banking sector, hospitals, schools and private organizations. Still government sector doesn`t use this ICT knowledge completely. By time to time we have to update our technologies according to the modern world, but unfortunately government doesn`t do this.
For many years that the war was on, Sri Lanka had to struggle to achieve its true potential in the world stage in many sectors – ICT is one such area. Now in peacetime Sri Lanka, we are gaining global recognition as a centre for delivering IT as well as an emerging Knowledge Services Industry. Today, more than 300 IT and BPO companies operate in Sri Lanka serviced by a workforce of over 60,000 and generating USD 400M in exports. In four to five years time, Sri Lanka will have a new 250 acre information technology park in the South, in Suriyawewa, in Hambantota, that is, in the island's south. It will provide job opportunities for an ICT sector workforce of nearly 100,000. It will have a number of custom-made facilities including next generation telecom infrastructure.
To uplift the IT literacy level in the rural areas of the country the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) launched the ‘Nenasara’ Mobile Library for Digital content. This is aimed at the underprivileged sectors of the society to supplement them with the knowledge in information technology and to motivate them to merge technology in their daily lives to enhance the productivity of their livelihoods. The ‘e-Diriya’ the national ICT literacy initiative was officially inaugurated at the Kotiyakumbura Vidyasagara Pirivena Buddhist Temple premises in Kegalle. That was under the patronage of Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Hambonthota District MP Namal Rajapaksa. The main objective of this initiative is to provide a basic computer knowledge to Samurddhi recipients and schoolchildren from families having a low income.
According to the above paragraph you can clearly see that now day’s government & private sector try to spread the knowledge of ICT all around the country. They have organized many programs to do that. After analyzing ICTA annual report and through several observations we can guess that the ICT literacy of Sri Lanka has come to a considerable position.
