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Chandrika inaugurates online distance-learning project

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO. FEB. 18. The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, today inaugurated a seven-nation online distance-learning programme, aimed at linking the SAARC countries through a non-governmental initiative.

The project, undertaken by the South Asia Foundation (SAF), headed by former diplomat and UNESCO's goodwill ambassador, Madanjeet Singh, will connect the open universities in the SAARC region through the Internet and offer distance-learning across the region. Ms. Kumaratunga drew attention to the constraints faced by online distance learning in poor countries, and said that apart from infrastructure-related hurdles, there was also a need to review the existing copyright laws, which were ``a major barrier to the use of the Internet and the world wide web''.

Highlighting the importance of distance learning, she said in addition to reaching communities living in far away places with little access to formal education systems, it can ``meet the problems of shortages of trained teachers and lack of facilities''.

Stressing the need to address the issue of trained personnel to operate such systems, Ms. Kumaratunga said there was a need to formulate systems that would encourage sufficient numbers of trained persons, who were from the region, but are employed in the West, ``to return to theirhomelands, at least for short periods every year''.

Lakshman Kadirgamar, former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, who also heads the Sri Lanka chapter of the SAF, said the initiative was in conformity with the objectives of the SAARC.

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