Abstract:
Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) acts as a significant tool in
achieving vital goals in education sector. The
development of ICT is a major objective
under Sri Lanka’s development vision of
becoming the "Emerging Wonder of Asia" as
outlined in the Mahinda Chintana 2010 –
vision for the future. The research objectives
are to explore (1) the importance of the ICT
curriculum for the government schools in Sri
Lanka (2) find the educational challenges
and opportunities for ICT education in Sri
Lanka. This research is primarily qualitative
in nature, where the survey conducted based
on the analysis of previous research papers,
extensive literature surveys, previous survey
reports and government publications on the
above context. The importance of ICT
curriculum in government school analyzed
and presented using Bennett’s Hierarchy 7
steps model such as Inputs, Activities,
Participants, Reactions of participants,
Changes in knowledge, Practice change, End
results. Lack of computer laboratory and cost
of devices, lack of qualified ICT teachers,
less motivation towards ICT among school
children, require more funds for the
implementation and maintenance of
computer laboratories, inadequate
knowledge in English (language barrier), ICT
is not a major subject in the school
curriculum, no National Level Certification
for ICT for students were identified as a
challenges and rising demand for the ICT
sector career, high literacy rate of the
citizens, properly established and scattered
schools provide easy access to the school
community, public – private sector
partnership, government and INGOs projects
were identified as opportunities for the ICT
implementation.
