Sri Lanka’s State Minister for Technology and Innovation Thilanga Sumathipala and Acting Indian High Commissioner, Vinod K Jacob, inaugurated the Fourth India Education Fair 2020 in Colombo on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, Acting High Commissioner Jacob highlighted the potential for deepening India - Sri Lanka cooperation in the education sector. He encouraged the students of Sri Lanka to make use of the 25,000 plus seats earmarked in Indian educational institutions every year for foreign students. The Indian Government is also offering 750 scholarships each year to students across Sri Lanka for Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Doctoral courses in India and Sri Lanka. In addition, India offers fully-funded training opportunities for capacity building to around 400 Sri Lankan Government officials every year under the ITEC program. Student exchanges under the Indo - Sri Lanka Foundation are a prominent feature of the annual calendar and helps foster deeper appreciation for each other’s culture.
Among recent developments on the educational infrastructure side, India constructed the largest university auditorium in Sri Lanka at the University OF Ruhuna last week, instituted the Indian High Commissioner’s Gold Medals for the best performing students in the fields of Pharmacy, Nursing and Medical Laboratory Science at the Ruhuna University. In mid January this year, new school buildings constructed with Indian assistance in five schools in the Northern Province were simultaneously handed over to the people of Sri Lanka.
Acting High Commissioner Jacob also encouraged young students to pursue their studies with the same commitment and passion as late Prof. Indra Dassanayake, who was given the prestigious Padma Shri award by the Government of India on January 26, 2020, for her pioneering contribution to the development of Hindi Literature and education in Sri Lanka.
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