Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answer to the question raised by Hon. Sanjeewa Ranasingha is as follows:

¶ 02 1. Yes.

¶ 03 To implement the digital transformation of education, a multi-stakeholder Task Force of 30 members has been established under the chairmanship of the Secretary to the Prime Minister, with the participation of the Secretaries of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, and the Ministry of Digital Economy, among others. The list of representatives is annexed.

¶ 04 A Cabinet Memorandum to establish this Task Force was submitted on 28.05.2025 and approval was granted on 02.06.2025. The Task Force is mandated to work with development partners, the private sector and civil society organizations, and to carry out its work over the next three years.

¶ 05 This Task Force has been established to formulate a national framework to provide solutions to long-standing challenges such as teacher shortages, inequities in digital access, and the pace of technological change in education; to move towards a future-ready, well-structured education delivery model including blended learning; to develop digital content standards, online safety, ICT infrastructure; and to ensure continuity of learning during disasters.

¶ 06 Accordingly, seven primary objectives have been identified: (1) Introduce and deploy digital tools as an interim solution to address teacher vacancies until they are fully filled. (2) Update the digital curriculum aligned with current and future learning needs. (3) Ensure continuity of teaching-learning during emergencies. (4) Promote digital literacy and online safety for students. (5) Enhance infrastructure and systems readiness for ICT integration. (6) Ensure ICT preparedness for educational excellence. (7) Build a sustainable framework for educational innovation.

¶ 07 In parallel, the Ministry has initiated several measures: - Advancing inclusive digital transformation of general education and classroom solutions, and promoting blended learning. - Proposal approved by Cabinet to provide smart boards and other ICT equipment to 1,000 schools; presently, 1,900 smart boards are to be distributed among 1,500 schools. - Developing a National Education Management Information System (EMIS) across all education tiers; foundational work has commenced in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Air Force under the Clean Sri Lanka programme. - Internet connectivity targeted for all secondary schools by end-2026, and introduction of a Rs. 5,000 unlimited data package for schools.

¶ 08 Teacher capacity building is critical. Under the National Continuous Professional Development Programme, training has commenced to develop ICT skills of teachers lacking prior training; 300 teachers have been trained so far, and further enhancement is planned via the Lanka-Shilpa E-Learning/LMS platform. The Teacher Digital Competency Curriculum has been introduced from 2025 and is being implemented.

¶ 09 Expected outcomes include: - Enhanced teacher capacity. - Curriculum development leveraging digital tools. - Infrastructure development. - Strengthened assessment mechanisms. - A major transformation in education over the next five years.

¶ 10 The detailed answer, including the list of Task Force members, is tabled and placed in the Library.