On January 16, 2025, the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, H.E. Santosh Jha, and Mr. B.K. Prabhath Chandrakeerthi, Secretary of the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish 60 smart classrooms in selected schools across Sri Lanka’s plantation regions. The government of India has granted LKR 508 million to support this initiative.
The project aims to establish smart classrooms in 48 schools in Nuwara Eliya and 6 schools each in the Kandy and Badulla districts, identified by the Sri Lankan Government. This initiative is expected to enhance teaching and learning experiences, benefit students, and promote the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in education.
India’s development cooperation with Sri Lanka, valued at over USD 5 billion, has consistently supported people-centric projects across the country’s 25 districts. The smart classrooms initiative continues India’s extensive contributions to Sri Lanka’s education sector, complementing a range of past and ongoing projects.
Notable Indian-led projects in Sri Lanka’s education sector include:
- Establishing English language laboratories in all provinces.
- Building and renovating auditoriums, such as the Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Auditorium at Ruhuna University.
- Constructing a multi-ethnic, tri-lingual school in Polonnaruwa.
- Renovating over 100 schools in the Northern Province.
- Supplying 110 buses to educational institutions nationwide.
- Supporting vocational training centers and creating smart classrooms in 200 schools in the Southern Province.
- Providing financial aid to economically disadvantaged students at the University of Jaffna and Eastern University Batticaloa.
India recently doubled its grant support for upgrading nine plantation schools and conducted a three-month STEM teacher training program for plantation schools, benefiting over 2,000 educators. This program was part of a multi-sectoral grant of INR 750 million, marking the bicentennial of the Indian-origin Tamil community’s arrival in Sri Lanka.
This initiative underscores India’s steadfast commitment to enhancing education and fostering community development in Sri Lanka.
