Abstract:
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become one of the basic building
blocks of modern competitive society. Most of the countries in the world now consider
understanding ofiCT and mastering the basic skills ofiCT as part of the core of education,
alongside reading, writing and numeracy (UNESCO, 2002). Even though the successive
governments in Sri Lanka have taken many steps such as providing computers to schools
and training staff with a view to improve the ICT skills among school students, impact
of these measures was not monitored at student level, and, therefore, the success of these
practices is unknown.
The purpose of this study is to measure the nature and the basic computer literacy level
of Advanced Level students in urban areas of Gampaha and Badulla Districts. Further,
this study identifies the differences and similarities of computer literacy between students
of both districts and understands the gender difference in acquiring computer literacy by
students.
Based on the UGC Z-score, Gampaha was selected as a facilitated area and Badulla was
selected as a less- facilitated area. The total sample size is of 200 Advanced Level students.
Questionnaires were distributed for data collection. Their degree of literacy was measured in
five areas as Basic computer operation and concepts, Word processing skills, Internet/Web
skills, Multimedia skills and Email skills. Percentage method was used for data analyzing.
Study revealed that Badulla District's students are showing higher level of computer literacy
for every skill except Internet/Web skills when compare to Gampaha District's students.
This is justifiable with their computer- student ratio. It is 1: 14 in Gampaha while it is 1 :9
in Badulla district. However all students show low level skills as 23.67% on Internet/Web
base skills. In addition, study identified that the overall male literacy was higher than the
female literacy in both districts.
