Leader of the House and Minister of Education Dr. Susil Premjayanth said that Minister Dr.Bandula Gunawardena deserves the honour for establishing the South Asian Centre for Teacher Development in Sri Lanka.
The Minister expressed these views while attending the opening of the new dormitory complex of the South Asian Centre for Teacher Development in Meepe.
 Education Minister
Dr. Susil Premajayantha
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 Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister
Dr.Bandula Gunawardena
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 High Commissioner of India
in Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay addressing the participants.
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The Minister further said, “During his tenure as the Minister of Education, Dr. Gunawardena made a great commitment and a pioneering mission to establish the South Asian Teacher Development Centre in Sri Lanka. In 2008, when I ran for the UNESCO Executive Committee, I was elected with the second-highest number of votes in the region. After that, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena joined the UNESCO Executive Committee and worked actively. As a result, when the then Director General of UNESCO decided to provide a Teacher Development Centre to the Asian region, Sri Lanka received special support from India, Bangladesh and other Asian countries to establish it in Sri Lanka.
“But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we were not able to start the courses there as planned. However, as the current Minister of Education, I am happy to complete the construction of the dormitory building and open it. With the support of the Secretary of the Ministry and other staff, we were able to complete the entire work in a very short period. We will be able to maintain the institute as an international-level teacher development centre by completely modernizing all the other building complexes including the main hall of the institute. We are working to continue the mission done by Dr. Gunawardena as its founder. The credit for establishing the South Asian Teacher Development Centre in Sri Lanka should go to Dr. Gunawardena.”
Addressing the event, the Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena said: “As representatives of Sri Lanka in international conferences and conventions on education, we have very actively contributed to the activities of UNESCO. A project proposal to get a training centre for teachers in South Asia was prepared in that way. The representatives including the Chairman of UNESCO at that time made a great contribution. After presenting this report to the Executive Committee of UNESCO, together with the Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Switzerland at that time, we struggled to get this teacher training centre to Sri Lanka. It was necessary to negotiate on a personal level to get the agreement of other Asian countries. There, with the agreement of India, Bangladesh and other countries, the proposal was presented to establish this Teacher Training Centre in Sri Lanka. I believe that one day when the history of this institution is written, these facts should also be included in it.
“Following this, in 2014, we were able to establish a computer faculty with 100 computers in collaboration with the National Institute of Education of Sri Lanka. Education Ministers from all countries in the Asian region participated in the opening ceremony. After that, with the change of governments, this institution was neglected. We must understand that seventy-five years after independence, our country has faced this situation due to reasons such as change of governments leading to breech of agreements, acting arbitrarily, and the officials giving wrong instructions to Ministers.
“Later, when I was the Minister of Higher Education, I showed cause to UNESCO about this. There, we assured them that the necessary steps would be taken to correct the situation. I must respect and thank the current Minister of Education Dr.Susil Premajayanth for refocusing on this institution and taking steps to expand and develop it so that it can serve the teachers in South Asia. This institute will become an example not only for our country but for the whole world in the future. I believe that in this way we will be able to produce a generation of teachers who are full of wisdom.”
Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Tareq MdAriful Islam, Education Minister Dr. Susil Premjayanth, Education Ministry Secretary and a group of distinguished guests attended this event.
Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena and Education Minister Susil Premajayantha along with others on the occasion.
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