Under the visionary leadership of Chief Commissioner Mrs. B.G. Kalani Hemalie, the National Colleges of Education (NCoEs) achieved a historic milestone in 2024 by digitalizing the recruitment process for teacher trainees across Sri Lanka’s 19 National Colleges of Education.
Traditionally, the recruitment process from the initial call for applications to the final registration was labor intensive and time-consuming, heavily dependent on manual procedures.
However, in 2024, the intake for the 2023–25 cohort was successfully completed using a groundbreaking online system, dramatically reducing the process to less than four months. This efficient timeline began in April 2024 when the Ministry of Education (MoE) opened applications and concluded with the final registration of trainees at the NCoEs.
This innovative online system was born out of a strategic meeting held on 22nd of September 2023, between the Honorable Minister of Education, Dr. Susil Premajayanth, and Mr. Mohan Fernando, Group CEO of the Informatics Group of Companies. Recognizing the critical need to expedite the recruitment of teacher trainees for the NCoEs, Mr. Fernando committed to developing the online system through the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT). Notably, this project was undertaken as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, with no cost incurred by the Ministry of Education. Additionally, the Ministry secured Cabinet approval for the project and signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to ensure the process was transparent and legally compliant.
The project’s successful execution was spearheaded by Mr. Susantha Rathnayake, Vice President of Software Engineering, under the honorary supervision and guidance of CEO Mr. Mohan Fernando. Key contributors included Mr. Sudharshana Welihinda, Head of Operations at IIT, and Mr. Niel Gunadasa, Head of Digital and Distance Learning (General Education) and former Additional Secretary (IT & Digital Education) of the MoE, with overall coordination by Ms. Thisari Balapitiya, Manager of Digital and Distance Learning at IIT.
As a result of this digital transformation, the total annual expenditure for the recruitment process was drastically reduced from 13.5 million LKR to 2.5 million LKR and the recruiting time reduced from 1 year to 4 months.
In recognition of this significant achievement, the Ministry of Education honored the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) in a special ceremony held in the Ministry boardroom on August 9, 2024.
During this event, the Hon. Minister of Education, Dr. Susil Premjayanth, and the Chief Commissioner of Teacher Education, Mrs. B.G. Kalani Hemalie, presented a special plaque of appreciation to the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT), which was received at the function by Mr. Niel Gunadasa, Mr. Susantha Rathnayake, and Ms. Thisari Balapitiya.
The ceremony was attended by the Dr. Kithsiri Munagama (Additional Secretary, MoE), Presidents of the 19 NCoEs, Deputy Directors of the NCoE branch and representatives of the Sri Lanka Teacher Educators Service (SLTES) unions, all of whom expressed their gratitude to the IIT officials for their outstanding contribution.
