Abans IT to enable digital transition in education

Abans Group of Companies has carried out several PC donation campaigns to youth across Sri Lanka. The campaign has been carried out for the past six years, with over 600 PCs being donated to students in need studying in all districts and they have been reaping the benefits.

Prior to the campaign, many of the students studying in these schools did not have access to PCs. Post receiving of the PCs, the school curriculum was enhanced to include basic IT practical work that enables to better prepare youth for the future.

The education system in Sri Lanka is one of the best, with the country possessing one of the highest literacy rates of 96.4% in the region. This is a huge feat for a country such as Sri Lanka, which is still a developing country. The rising need now is for the education system to start incorporating more digital based solutions. The youth today, when entering the employment market, need to be adequately equipped to the evolved environment.

Abans IT Solutions is the Information Technology division under the leading Sri Lankan conglomerate, Abans Group of Companies. The division has many leading brands under its portfolio; HP, Acer, Lenovo, MSL and Haier, that together contribute to over 40% of Sri Lankan market shares in PCs – making Abans IT the biggest retailer in the IT market. Abans Group’s vision is to ‘keep empowering people to a better way to life’. The means to equipping the youth of today to face tomorrow better is of special interest. The Group believes that for the country to progress, the people need to progress and giving the right education is the key to unlocking potential.

The Smart Classroom is a concept that is rapidly gaining traction in the Sri Lankan education system. The Abans IT division offers entry level to collaborative smart classrooms that consist of hardware such as Smartboards, student PCs, charge trolleys and other accessories, and software such as Classroom Management System and Learning Management Systems, which comes from the brands ofAbans, Expressluck and Haier. Smart Classrooms offer benefits such as improved student and teacher interaction, access to international standard digital content, distance learning and lesson archiving facilities that help to enhance the student-based education system.

Abans IT initiated its flagship classrooms as a part of its CSR program in 2017. Two classrooms were launched at Central College Kuliyapitiya and Saranath College Kuliyapitiya in the Kurunegala district, and another was launched at Vishaka Girls School in Badulla.

Since 2017, Abans IT has provided over 1000 smart classroom solutions across the island, benefitting over 40,000 of students.

Due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic that saw schools close and remain closed for the past 4 months, the need to incorporate digital solutions to the education system was accelerated. Sharing his thoughts,

Chathura Jayawardena, General Manager Abans IT stated, “Using digital platforms toward Educational Transformation has gained tremendous traction and popularity, which enables faster diffusion of technology acceptance than it was forecasted. It is good to see Sri Lanka evolving and incorporating more digital-based solutions, thus ensuring our education system continues to be strong in the future as well.”