Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha and J.M. Thilaka Jayasundara, Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Science and Technology, signed diplomatic letters on Friday, October 18, to formalize the doubling of grant support from the Government of India (GOI) for the upgradation of nine schools in Sri Lanka’s plantation regions. The Indian High Commission announced that, following this agreement, the total commitment from the GOI now stands at SLR 600 million.

The project will focus on upgrading the infrastructure of nine schools identified by the Sri Lankan government, including six in the Central Province and one each in the Uva, Sabaragamuwa, and Southern Province.

This initiative adds to India’s extensive track record of development partnerships in Sri Lanka, particularly in the education sector. Alongside infrastructure development and equipment supply, India’s cooperation efforts also prioritize training and capacity-building. Notable past projects include renovations at over 100 schools in the Northern Province, the establishment of 40 e-libraries in the Southern and Eastern Provinces, and the supply of 110 buses to educational institutions across the island.

Additional contributions have included the setup of English language laboratories nationwide, the renovation of auditoriums—including the Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Auditorium at Ruhuna University—and the construction of a multi-ethnic tri-lingual school in Polonnaruwa, North Central Province. Support for vocational training institutions, such as the Thondaman Vocational Training Centre in Hatton and the Vantharamullai and Onthachimadam Centres in the Eastern Province, has also been significant. Furthermore, the establishment of smart classrooms and computer labs in 200 schools in Galle has marked India’s ongoing commitment to educational advancement.

Recently, a three-month teacher-training programme in STEM subjects was conducted for plantation schools under a multi-sectoral grant assistance of INR 750 million, announced last year to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Indian-origin Tamil community in Sri Lanka.