ICT workshop and exhibition in Jaffna, a great eye-opener
The ICT workshop and exhibition held in in Jaffna proved to be a great eye-opener.
This was the consensus of opinion of both the participants at the workshop and visitors to the exhibition held at the Jaffna Public Library recently (5/6).
The exhibition was organised at the Computer Division of the Jaffna Public Library by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) as part of its effort to take the benefits of ICT island-wide.
About 30 persons selected from Community Based Organisations and Nenasalas in the North participated in the workshop.
About 1000 members of the public including Jaffna District Secretary K. Ganesh visited the exhibition. The GA spent quite a time browsing the websites and talking to participants, visitors and officials at the exhibition. Jaffna District Accountant S. Kuhadas inaugurated the exhibition. Jaffna District Agriculture Department Director S. Sivakumar, Jaffna Public Library Librarian S. Thanabalasingam, Deputy Registrar General (North) M. Rasarattinam and Sarvodaya Executive Committee member Sivasubramaniam were among those who participated in the lighting of the oil lamp.
Speaking on the occasion of the inauguration Head of the e-Society Programme Chitranganie Mubarak said that more than 200 projects were currently being implemented under the initiative of the e-Society Programme of the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka.
On this occasion Chitranganie also commended the punctuality of the visitors and officials manifested at the simple inauguration ceremony. The exhibition based as it were on the principle of learning “Come, see, do it yourself and learn” dealt with subjects including those focusing on farmers and agro-industries, women and children, small and middle level enterprises, students, differently abled persons and services useful to everyone. Rich content in forms of DVDs and CDs were made available to the CBOs and principals of the visiting schools. Visitors also had a good first hand exposure to valuable information through web-sites such as www.goviya.lk; www.navagoviya.org; www.smeguide.lk; www.lankasign.lk; www.happylife.lk; www.firstaider.org.
Speaking at the workshop officers of the GIC (including GIC Project Manager Chinthaka Ranasinghe of ICTA) said that about 2000 to 3000 telephone calls were received daily for information about services. The participants in the workshop were extremely overjoyed at the opportunity for making optimum use of the facilities and for disseminating information to others. They showed their enthusiasm by asking the questions they felt important. "How can I know the road to come to the Education Department in Colombo from Jaffna?" "How can I know that the gazette which gives information about Government job vacancies is out and how I could get to see it quickly?" "Will I get into to trouble if I make a complaint through 1919?" were some of the several questions were that were actually asked. All these questions were answered satisfactorily.
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