Education at the ceremony held for the purpose of handing over letters of appointment to 25 Assistant Lecturers of the SLIATE on 15th February, Text of a speech delivered by Prof. Wiswa Warnapala, Minister of Higher 2008. Any kind of use of the contents should be duly acknowledged.
It is appropriate for me to seize this opportunity to speak a couple of words on the need to expand Technical Education in the country. In Sri Lanka, technical education began in the 1890s with the establishment of the Colombo Technical College, which, as Government Department, functioned to cater to certain requirements of such Government Departments as Public Works, Railways and Irrigation. Technical Education, because of this limited focus, did not expand in the colonial period; it was after independence an attempt was made to start engineering courses. With the establishment of the University of Ceylon, an Engineering Degree course was started. In the sixties, a network of Technical Colleges came into existence but they taught only trade and craft courses. What the country needed was an Institute which could career to the middle level needs in the field of technical knowledge. Such middle level technical know-how was necessary for the country to undertake development; industry was expanding and new development corporations came into being, and such institutions, in addition to engineers, wanted middle level technical expertise.
It is appropriate for me to seize this opportunity to speak a couple of words on the need to expand Technical Education in the country. In Sri Lanka, technical education began in the 1890s with the establishment of the Colombo Technical College, which, as Government Department, functioned to cater to certain requirements of such Government Departments as Public Works, Railways and Irrigation. Technical Education, because of this limited focus, did not expand in the colonial period; it was after independence an attempt was made to start engineering courses. With the establishment of the University of Ceylon, an Engineering Degree course was started. In the sixties, a network of Technical Colleges came into existence but they taught only trade and craft courses. What the country needed was an Institute which could career to the middle level needs in the field of technical knowledge. Such middle level technical know-how was necessary for the country to undertake development; industry was expanding and new development corporations came into being, and such institutions, in addition to engineers, wanted middle level technical expertise.
