A sustained public-service broadcasting contribution to Internet awareness in Sri Lanka.
In 1997, the Council for Information Technology (CINTEC) began the SLBC radio programme Internet Sampath Bhavithaya—“Use of Internet Resources.” Harsha Wijayawardhana was a resource person from its inception and conducted the programme together with Dr. S. T. Nandasara and other ICT specialists associated with the Institute of Computer Technology and, later, the University of Colombo School of Computing.
Making the Internet understandable
The programme explained Internet resources and practical computing to the public in Sinhala at a time when household Internet access was uncommon. It extended the pioneering idea that radio could act as an intermediary between online knowledge and listeners who faced barriers of access or English-language proficiency.
Nineteen years of broadcasting
UCSC sponsored the programme from 2004. It continued for more than nineteen years, with the final programme broadcast in 2017. Harsha’s contribution connects this sustained national broadcasting work with his involvement in the Kothmale Internet Community Radio Project, Sinhala computing, Internet development and later local-language programmes.
Continuing through Smart World
In 2019, the Local Language Technical Help Centre began Smart World through the Commercial Service of SLBC to promote Sinhala Unicode and local-language technology. Theekshana conducted the broadcasts with sponsorship from the LK Domain Registry, continuing the public-education tradition established by Internet Sampath Bhavithaya.
This independent local account is based on the published history of the Sinhala Unicode radio programmes and Harsha Wijayawardhana’s professional record. It is preserved here so the historical record does not depend on the continued availability of the original publishing website.