The ITEC network in Sri Lanka is ever growing with more than 400 slots offered every year

"Sky is the limit” for India-Sri Lanka partnership in education and skills training, India's High Commissioner Gopal Baglay said in Colombo earlier this week.

He was speaking at an event organised by the Indian High Commission in Colombo to observe ITEC Day 2022 on Wednesday to commemorate 58 years of capacity-building cooperation between India and Sri Lanka through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.

Sri Lanka's Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha was the event’s Guest of Honor while Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nihal Ranasingha attended the event as the Chief Guest.

Over 100 people attended the event, including ITEC alumni from Sri Lanka, officials, and professionals from various sectors who had taken different training courses in India as part of ITEC programs.

In his speech, the Sri Lankan Minister of Education praised the more than 2000 years of long-standing strong ties between Sri Lanka and India. He commended India for providing Sri Lankan nationals with yearly scholarships and ITEC seats, as well as for the recent financial assistance given to that country.

In addition, he noted the potential for further collaboration between Sri Lanka and India in the areas of higher education, skill development, and capacity building, particularly with respect to India's IT and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) sectors. He also mentioned India's comprehensive national education policy and its advantages for both students and teachers.

Speaking at the event, the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka underlined the sustained high level of enthusiasm Sri Lankan authorities have demonstrated for the ITEC initiative. He emphasised the value of ITEC collaboration and said that for the relationship between India and Sri Lanka in education and skill development, "the sky is the limit."

In addition to the 402 ITEC spaces already available and the roughly 700 scholarships provided each year, he emphasized India's efforts to assist Sri Lanka in the education sector, notably in higher education.

Later, during the event, the participants reflected on and discussed their ITEC training in India experiences and praised the comprehensive nature of the various ITEC programmes. The training modules' synchronisation with contemporary technology and social relevance were other things mentioned by the attendees.