‘KOICA’ (Korea International Cooperation Agency) the grant aid division of the Korean Embassy, held a Curriculum Development Committee Workshop of Technological NCoE (National College of Education) on January 29 and 30 2019, at the NIE (National Institute of Education). Nearly 40 people including many government officials participated in the workshop. Following the workshop, another Curriculum Development Committee Workshop would also be held in February. The workshop is held as a part of the KOICA funded project ‘Establishment of National College of Education and Teacher Training System for Technology Stream.’ The purpose of these workshops is to enhance technical education by fostering technical teachers. KOICA, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, is establishing the new ‘NCoE of Technology Stream” in Kuliyapitiya at a cost of US$ 13 million.
Korean experts dispatched by KOICA, CDC (Curriculum Development Committee) members of each department and other related stakeholders took part in the workshop. Dr. Gunasekara, the Director General of NIE and Ms. Kim Se Jin, Education Officer of KOICA, delivered the opening speech, followed by an introduction of the KOICA Project by Ms. Sung, Jung-Ae (Project Manager) of Dong-Eui University.
While delivering the opening speech, Dr. Gunasekara, DG of NIE, asserted that the establishment of NCoE is a very good opportunity to invest in the development of Sri Lanka, consequently its economic development. “I pay my gratitude to KOICA and PMC for this great donation by the Korean Government is what we expected in a decade,” she mentioned. At the end of her speech, she emphasized the importance of ‘thinking global and acting local,’ therefore, meeting the needs of the local situation in a globally accepted manner. Ms. Kim noted that since one of the most crucial setbacks of the country is the lack of human resources in the technology sector, KOICA has agreed to cooperate with the Government of Sri Lanka to establish the NCoE and foster teachers in the technology stream.
The outputs of this workshop would be upgrading the current education curriculum, finalizing the new curriculum structure and formulating the proposal for approval, establishing a plan of curriculum development (Syllabus) and canvass suggestions for the new NCoE.
One of the current largest obstacles in the development of Sri Lanka’s economy, is unemployment of GCE A/L completed students who do not continue their higher education in any vocational institutes or universities. This issue affects the quality of the labour market in Sri Lanka, creating unemployment. Furthermore, the insufficiency of students with basic skills and lack of facilities and equipment which are appropriate to education, also hinders the economic development in Sri Lanka. This is in the same vein as the lack of qualified teachers with practical knowledge and skills meeting the demand of related industries and the labour market.
In order to alleviate the following difficulties, both the governments of Korea and Sri Lanka, agreed to establish the new NCoE, including the teacher training system for the technology stream. KOICA seeks to foster competent pre-service and in-service technical teachers with field experience in Sri Lanka, while consistently promoting the quality of technical education and its application on scene.
As a step forward, the workshop has been designed to map the current situation of Sri Lankan technical education and to grasp the challenges in training pre-service technical teachers. This would also enable the enhancement of the teachers’ teaching competency and expertise through KOICA and to put weight on planning, teaching and estimating classes according to students’ interests and needs, considering their education and career pathway, according to a KOICA Press release.
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