Sinhala Unicode – Radio Programs

The late Prof. V. K. Samaranayake, the chairman of the council for Information Technology (CINTEC), then apex body for Information Technology in Sri Lanka, advocated using traditional mediums such as radio and television to teach Information Technology (ICT) to rural communities. The late Professor was the founder of the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) and Theekshana R & D. In 1997, CINTEC produced a radio program called “Internet Sampath Bavithaya” or “use of Internet resources” in English with the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC). To conduct this program, CINTEC used content experts on Internet from the Institute of Computer Technology of the University of Colombo. This radio program was to last more than nineteen years. From 2004 onwards, UCSC sponsored the program until the last program was aired in 2017. Mr. Harsha Wijayawardhana, COO/CTO of Theekshana, was one of the resource persons for the above pioneering radio program from its inception. Currently, Mr. Wijayawardhana heads LLTHC.
LLTHC began a radio program with the Commercial Service of the SLBC to popularize the use of Sinhala Unicode and LLTC in 2019, following in the footsteps of Prof. Samaranayake. LLTHC called the above program “Smart World”, and it was aired once every month. Theekshana carried out these programs under the sponsorship of the LK Domain Registry. Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, LLTHC could not continue the program regularly. The following are some of the programs LLTHC produced with the SLBC. Currently, Theekshana continues conducting similar programs using Social Media such as Youtube and Facebook.