The first phase of the sports complex of Gateway College Kandy was declared open in Mapanawathura Road in close proximity to the school. The new complex provides for Athletics with a 100 metre track, Cricket with 3 wickets, Netball, Futsal and Tennis. Also included within the complex is a dormitory that can accommodate 36 athletes at any given time, enabling the school to hold residential sports camps for its students as well as for visiting teams. Part of the land is assigned for the second phase in which a 50 metre Swimming Pool and a Badminton court will be built.

The complex, declared open by Managing Director Mrs. Rohini Alles, is named ‘Asoka Herath Sports Complex’. Mr. Asoka Herath, who serves as a Director of Gateway has provided yeoman service to the organization and has been involved very much in the growth and expansion of the school in Kandy. Also present at the simple but elegant opening ceremony were the members of the Directorate, Mrs. Nirmali Wickremesinghe – Consultant, Mr. Gladwin Canagasabey - the Principal, Principals of other Gateway Schools, Ms. Thilaka Jinadasa, Team Leader Sports Development, the Heads of Sports of other Gateway Schools and a limited number of officials and students.

Speaking at the opening, Dr. Harsha Alles, Chairman of the Gateway Group mentioned that sports is an integral part of Gateway and that in as much as the school wishes to produce more sports men and women in the caliber of Shehan Ambepitiya and Shelinda Jansen, that they also want to make sure that every child takes part in at least one sport. He noted that the school does not limit sports to within the International School arena only and that the students are encouraged to compete at the highest levels. Gateway College Kandy already has annual encounters with Trinity College in Football, Hillwood College in Netball and St. Sylvester’s College in Basketball.

The occasion brought in a breath of fresh air for sports in schools at a time when the entire sector has come to a standstill. Dr. Alles stated that the school has had a marvelous online teaching and learning programme during the last year and that it is time to prepare for students to come back to the playing field as they have been indoors for far too long. He further elaborated that investing in sports for private schools is extremely challenging as the costs are enormous, but that there is no alternative for schools such as Gateway that strongly believe in a rounded education. The school’s Founder, the late R.I.T.Alles was a firm believer that learning should not be limited to the classroom and it is this belief that continuously propels the Gateway schools.

The Gateway Group has signed up with the Swedish Edtech company Dugga Assessment to incorporate Dugga - the state-of-the-art digital assessment platform to facilitate the school’s teaching and learning process. Dugga is platform (PC, Mac, Chromebooks, iPads) and OS-independent and is used to conduct digital tests, exams, home exams, digital lessons, assignments and other types of assessment in education.

‘Dugga is pleased to work in partnership with Gateway, a leading educational organization in Sri Lanka‘, states Dr. Claudia Rademaker and Dr. Patrik Nilsson, founders and VPs of Dugga Assessment. Dugga is currently used in more than 100 countries and enables remote assessment for the continuation of education worldwide during school closures because of Covid-19. ‘Dugga offers an easy-to-use nevertheless advanced test platform and has for some time been the fastest growing test platform in digital examinations. Therefore, as a forward-thinking organisation that has adapted well to the virtual teaching and learning environment, it was only logical for Gateway to sign up with Dugga’ said Dr. Harsha Alles, the Chairman of Gateway.

The platform Dugga is the result of a research project initiated in 2012 in which researchers and developers participated from the Stockholm School of Economics and the Stockholm University, among others. Dugga was formally launched at Stanford University, California, USA in the fall of 2015 and since 2016, has been a partner with Microsoft working on several research and development projects in the field of digital examinations and how to employ artificial intelligence to support the examination process.

Built in Microsoft Azure with features such as Immersive Reader, Dugga is making a significant impact on Office 365 and Microsoft Teams activations, while helping to incorporate important services such as plagiarism analysis and proctoring. “From a set of more than 3,300 submitted nominations from more than 100 countries worldwide, it was an honour for us to be recognized as the Microsoft Education Partner of the Year 2020”, adds Maria Gårdlund, CEO of Dugga. “As the only Microsoft Showcase School in Sri Lanka and with the recent recognition from Sri Lanka Telecom to be an EdTech Specialist School, this tie up will strengthen us further in our forward march in embracing the best of educational technology for our pupils”, says Surani Maithripala, Team Leader, Change Management of the Gateway Group.

Founders and key personnel of Dugga recognized as the Microsoft Education Partner of the Year 2020

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) signed a landmark agreement with the Gateway College network to work alongside the group of schools using them as model schools in the use of technology in education. Under the new agreement, SLT has recognised the Gateway Colleges as EdTech Specialist Schools. As the exclusive internet service provider and the distributor of Wifi within the schools, SLT will strive to usher in new technologies to the Gateway Schools and engage with Gateway in joint research.

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC is the national Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions provider and the leading broadband and backbone infrastructure services provider in Sri Lanka for over 162 years. SLT enables opportunities that empower Sri Lankans and elevates the country’s standing in the global arena. Being one of Sri Lanka’s most valuable blue-chip companies with market capitalisation of Rs.60 billion, SLT has been recognised amongst the ‘10 Most Admired Companies in 2020’ for its continuous efforts in empowering Sri Lankans.

Being the only Microsoft Showcase School in Sri Lanka and one among only 325 in the world, Gateway College is a self-driven organisation with a clear focus on offering ‘Education for tomorrow’. During the current pandemic, while having all 550 of their teachers deliver lessons online, the school achieved the remarkable feat of having a hundred of their teachers recognised by Microsoft as Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Experts. Gateway College is the only International School in Sri Lanka that has direct centre status from both Edexcel and Cambridge. Gateway is also a recognized centre of NCC Education UK, LAMDA UK, ECDL Foundation, ECIS, Duke of Edinburgh International Award and the College Board USA for SATs.

Both SLT and Gateway believe that the power of change lies with educators. Through this partnership, both organisations are keen to collaborate with organisations and professionals who are passionate about their work, have true collaborative spirit, and strive to inspire students with outside-the-box thinking in technology education. The agreement will support the good work of educators through the provision of futuristic technology and ICT infrastructure that melds technology with the classroom environment, catering to students of all learning styles. This partnership between the largest telecom provider and a leader in the Private Education sector in Sri Lanka is expected to result in the establishment of a modern school that will serve as a case study to many others and pave the way for setting standards.

Mr. Rohan Fernando, Chairman/SLT presenting the ‘slt EdTech Specialist School’ plaque to Dr. Harsha Alles, Chairman, Gateway Group. Also present were Mr. Lalith Seneviratne , Group CEO/SLT, Mr. Kiththi Perera , CEO/SLT, Mr. Janaka Abeysinghe, Chief Enterprise & Wholesale Officer/SLT, Mr. Ramantha Alles, Director Gateway, Principals and Team Leaders of Gateway College and the senior management of SLT.

Exchange of Partner Contracts between Dr. Harsha Alles, Chairman Gateway Group and Mr. Kiththi Perera, CEO, SLT.

With the adoption of the new Hybrid system, Gateway will move to a new mode of teaching and learning, based more on the student centered technology-based approach that has been taking root in the school in the recent past. At the heart of this approach is the latest technology that connects the classroom to the whole-school community and the wider world, through digital equipment that supports quality learning and teaching.

High quality interactive displays in the classrooms will create learning experiences that are immersive and interactive to optimize learning and increase student engagement. Gateway believes that the multi-touch capabilities that interactive displays offer will also result in more students getting around the panel to learn together, work easily in pairs, share their work with the class and collaboratively edit writing or design work.

With access to powerful digital learning tools and resources that will be supported by superior connectivity from Sri Lanka Telecom, Gateway students can look forward to an exciting 2021.