Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) proudly announces that the SLT Training centre has been recognized as the “International Centre of Excellence - South Asia 2016/17”. This award was announced at the City & Guilds Lion Awards 2016, held at the Capel Manor College in London recently. Further SLT Training Centre has also won two more important awards at this ceremony: “International Tutor of the Year”, awarded to a lecturer of SLT Training Centre, Mr. Thusitha Sameera Bandaranayake for the first time and “International Learner of the Year” awarded to a student of the SLT Training Centre for second time. This award went to Mr. Sivasankaran Sarawanaraj. In 2014, the “International Learner of the Year Award” was awarded to a student of SLT Training Centre, he being the first Asian to win a Lion award in the category of Telecommunication Systems.

Team of City & Guilds Lion Award Winners. SLT team members Ms. Kamanie Jayalath, General Manager - Training & Development of SLT, Mr. K.P.W.Asiri, Deputy General Manager - Training & Development of SLT, Mr. Thusitha Sameera Bandaranayake, Lecturer/Engineer – Training Centre of SLT and Mr. Sivasankaran Sarawanaraj, Student of the SLT Training Centre are among the team.

Learners, tutors and centres from across the world have been honoured for their outstanding achievements in professional and technical education at this Lion Awards ceremony, a prestigious ceremony hosted by City & Guilds. Areas considered for Awards are highly developed skills, outstanding knowledge, versatility and adaptability, innovation and originality & additional relevant Information.

The Lion awards, often known as the ‘Oscars of skills education’, were held in London to celebrate the very best in skills talent. The awards recognise excellent results and progression through learning as well as the exceptional contributions made by the City & Guilds centres across the Globe.

Mr. Kirstie Donnelly MBE, Managing Director at City & Guilds said: “The wealth of talent across this year’s nominees and winners makes me incredibly proud of the achievements and dedication they have all shown. At City & Guilds, we believe in the power of skills to be able to transform lives and each year I am humbled by the stories of the Lion Awards winners. All of us at City & Guilds are honoured to have been a part of their success.”

The City & Guild’s Lion Awards ceremony is one of the most prestigious events in the skills education calendar and is a culmination of the Medals for Excellence awards programme, which dates back more than 100 years.

“Every year, some two million individuals take our programmes, supported by thousands of teachers and tutors. Today, we gave out just fifteen awards, so that shows you how special it is if you win one.” said Donnelly.

Mr. Mufthy Hashim, Regional Director - South Asia, City & Guilds said: “I am extremely pleased that three Lion Awards out of the fifteen categories presented by City & Guilds in London this year were brought home to Sri Lanka by the Sri Lanka Telecom Training Centre. Namely they are – “Learner of the Year, “Tutor of the Year and also the new category of Lion Award – “Regional Centre of the Year – South Asia”. Incidentally the Lion Award for “Learner of the Year 2014” was also won by a student of SLT training centre, which goes to prove their continued dedication to, and levels of quality of, the training they provide to the next generation of telecommunications engineers. We congratulate SLT for possessing the quality required to produce such students supported by tutors, which results in maintaining high standards of training delivery”.