The pilot project key objectives were

• To Pioneer local language digital learning
• To Introduce digital  learning at tele centers
• Build capacity of the tele centers for e learning
• To improve self learning capacity of remote, rural students
• To motivate student communities for digital self learning
• To provide an alternative education path to rural communities who lack of laboratories, educational resources and teachers
• Bridge the gap of rural and urban students taking the same National Examinations
• To fill the gap of non availability of local language educational content
• Taking the benefits of ICT to rural communities

The Polot milestones set were

• Forming a  stakeholder teachers,developer and tele center groups
• Developing a content map based on National curriculum of NIE
  
• Developing a local language digital learning software
• Developing inteteractive digital content for 8 subjects in demand
• Implement Shilpa Sayura in 20 tele centers
• Developing community awareness, training Tele Center Staff
• Launch and Promotion
• Implementing technical support programme
  

All milestones were achived during the one year pilot period
26 tele centers and 9 schools are now using shilpa sayura which is above the initial target of 20 locations.


Shilpa Sayura now covers 12 subjects and 60% National GCE O/L Curriculum content in Science, Math, Sinhala, History, Geography, Civi Studies, Environment, Art, Dance, Music, General Knowledge, English.

An interactive English Cource for beginers to advanced learning was developed to cater on demand by un employed,  adults and seniors.

• Considering the large amount of content to be covered on 6000 topics with interactivity, only ICT can facilitate it as single learning sourcey shared by a group of students.
  
• The Development in Sinhala Unicode Standard and technologies faciliates creation of local language content online.
  
• The content creation, management and review process was done on a local area network with participation of over 50 professionals sharing computer time.
  
• Internet and email helped to make communications, awareness building and document sharing.
   
• The web technologies used make it possible to run on a single pc, local network or on internet. 
  
• ICT faciliates content to be constantly reviewed for changes in context and National Carriculam Changes and update easily the content and lesson sturcutures as well as to add new content and resouces by group of people simultaneously.
  
• ICT faciliates student management, local content creation, content saring, feedback and provide statistics on usage.
  
• ICT faciliates easy content location facility, search and local language input.
  
• ICT has made it possible for easy replication and upgrades over communication networks.
  
• The content core includes text, interactive exercises, supported by movie clips, photographs, animations and applet totaling over 3 GB. It goes far beyond a textbook’s ability to impart subject knowledge. Furthermore Shilp a Sayura also provides a platform on which students can interact with one another, share and exchange knowledge through ICT. ICT helped managing stakeholder communications, training, content creation, collaboration, review and distribution.
  
• ICT helped to save time, innovation in content presentation and technical support and awareness building. ICT was the key factor in whole project from proposal, selection, planning, execution and implementation and review.
  
• The students were ICT aware and tele center network was a great ICT infrastructure to start with.
  
• The project's major component being ICT, has become a global example of impact ICT in mass rural community education development change their lives for better future through digital self learning.
  

Shilpa Sayura Project used ICT effectively to provide Digital Self Learning as an alternative to resources and teachers lacked remote, rural students. It created an opportunity bridge using ICT for them to come up in life. They are now able to use ICT to study 8 subjects digitally at tele centers and develop there knowledge and skills to prepare for national examinations regardless of their educational resource issues. Shilpa Sayuracreated a  real value for Nenasala Tele Centers using ICT transforming them as a true knowledge centers for the rural communities . ICT has helps shilpa sayura for constant communications, providing technical assistance, easy content distribution resulting lowering operational costs.

ICT has helped to increase the learning power of rural children who use interactive content rich with multimedia and exercises for self learning, which are not possible in traditional learning. In overall ICT has helped to create digital learning environments in rural communities, which change the future of their children and youth.ICT has brought a new hope for handycapped children and youth of  rural communities changing the way they acquire knowledge improving their capacity in life enduers.