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       Proceedings of the 9  Symposium on Applied Science, Business & Industrial Research – 2017
       ISSN 2279-1558, ISBN 978-955-7442-09-9

             Identification of a Framework for Implementing ICT in Sri Lankan
                                    Secondary Education System

                                    Karunathilake TSL, Vidanagama VGTN
                   Department of Computing and Information System, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka
                                          tslkarunathilake@gmail.com

                                               ABSTRACT

              This  research  is  focused  on  finding  the  affected  indicators  on  the  barriers  to  use
       Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Sri Lankan Secondary Education
       System.  It  also  explores  a  framework  to  implement  ICT  in  schools  overcoming  these
       barriers. In particular, it examines the western provincial schools’ policy with respect to
       ICT  integration  from  both  the  principal’s  perspective  and  perceptions  of  teachers.  To
       answer the research questions, a representative sample of 60 secondary school principals
       was interviewed. In addition, the interview data were supplemented with a survey data of
       500  teachers  of  several  schools  selected  from  above  pool.  What  emerged  from  the
       descriptive  analyses  was  that,  School-related  policies,  The  infrastructure  facilities,
       Planning  and  usage  of  ICT  in  teaching  and  learning,  Current  views  of  principals  and
       teachers  on  their  ICT  skills  and  their  opinions  of  the  impact  and  future  role  of  ICT  in
       education, Teacher’s fluency of ICT has an influence on, the extent to which ICT was used
       in schools. According to the analyzed data, a framework was designed to make readiness
       and maintain smooth Teaching & Learning system in secondary schools. And finally, the
       research has collected feedback from involved parties during the implementation process
       to evaluate competency of suggested framework.

       KEYWORDS: ICT integration,  Secondary education framework, Teaching and learning


                  1 INTRODUCTION                         will guide to a clear vision and direction in
                                                         making this effort a reality, followed by an
            The  Government  of  Sri  Lanka  has         action  plan  as  a  6  year  strategic  plan  from
       prioritized  Information  &  Communication        2002 to 2007. This action plan was focused
       Technologies (ICT) through the Information        on  both  the  use  of  ICT  in  Education
       and Communication Technology Agency of            (Teaching  &  Learning)  and  use  of  ICT  in
       Sri Lanka (ICTA) which was established in         Management  of  the  Education  System.
       July  2003.  Under  the  ICT  Act  No.  27  of    Although  school  management  has  shown
       2003,  ICTA  was  empowered  to  formulate        progress, the integration of ICT for teaching
       and  implement  strategies  and  programs  in     and  learning  processes  of  the  formal
       both the Government and the private sector.       curriculum in school education has not taken
       Although  many  industries  have  drawn  up       place as yet. In a review of studies on ICT in
       their  master  plans  for  the  development  in   education,  it  was  found  that  the  focus  has
       ICT,  the  ICT  integration  in  the  education   been    shifted   from   studying    certain
       system  of  Sri  Lanka  has  shown  some          technologies  and  their  effect  on  student
       alteration from this rapid growth.                learning  to  studying  how  technology  is
           The  National  Policy  on  Information        integrated into education setting.
       Technology      in    School     Education                2 LITERATURE REVIEW
       (NAPITSE) affirms  the commitment  of the
       government  towards  providing  the  state  of         The extent of ICT usage in schools has
       the  art  knowledge  in  ICT  to  Sri  Lanka’s    been  examined,  to  obtain  the  view  of
       younger  generation,  making  them  face  the     students  with  experience  in  ICT  at  their
                           st
       challenges of the 21  -Century. This policy       school  and  to  obtain  the  principals  and


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