Signing Ceremony of Cultural Grant for Rajarata University

2019/2/27

Ambassador's Speeches

It is my great pleasure to conduct a Signing Ceremony of Cultural Grant entitled “Project for Improvement of Facility for Japanese Language Learning of Faculty of Social Science, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka”.
I wish to welcome you all to my residence today.

I would like to introduce 3 numbers. First one is 6 out of 15. What do you think this number is? This is the number of Universities in Sri Lanka which received grant assistance from the Government of Japan so far. To name a few, last year, the Government of Japan extended grant assistance to Sri Palee Campus of Colombo University to establish multimedia studio, and the faculty of agriculture of Jaffna University to construct a research and training complex.

Hon. Minister Hakeem, the Government of Japan, through grant assistance, will further contribute to the development of higher education in Sri Lanka. We would like to continue close consultation with the Hon. Minister in this regard.

The next number is 65; please guess what this number is. This is the number of times that the headquarters in Tokyo has requested the Embassy to seek clarification with Rajarata University on this Project.
Dr. Karunaratne, that means that your Dean, Professor Withanachchi, and your members of Faculty of Social Science have responded to 65 of our questions and requests in laborious manner. Honestly, we cannot remember how many times the floor plan had to be revised. But at the same time, the mutual trust has been strengthened through the course of such determined and untiring effort.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
The last number is more than 10,000; please guess what this number is. This is the number of Japanese language students in the whole island including elementary, middle and higher educational institutions.
On higher education level, University of Kelaniya, Sabaragamuwa University and Rajarata University, these 3 universities have a degree program designed exclusively on the Japanese language. Among these Universities, Rajarata University is the only University where the door is open for students who wish to start studying Japanese language as beginners.

As Japan prepares for accepting more foreigner workers against the backdrop of labor shortage, need for practical knowledge of the Japanese language is emphasized and a new method of language learning is being introduced.
I sincerely hope that the new Language Laboratory to be funded by this grant will help Rajarata University enhance its Japanese language education. And we hope that Rajarata University will play a leading role in promoting practical Japanese language education.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate my strong commitment to making further efforts to cooperate in the field of culture and education for the future generation of Sri Lanka.

I wish you all the best and success for your academic achievement in the future.

Thank you very much.