Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Saturday, 12 October 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
A primary school in the village of Siripura in the Polonnaruwa District will offer students commencing their first year of education in January 2020 a new smart classroom in a new building, thanks to the good corporate citizenship of Ceylinco Life.
The life insurance leader’s 80th donation of a purpose-built classroom, this one equipped with a projector, computer and sound system, benefitted the Siripura Prathamika Vidyalaya, a school of 260 students and just seven teachers.
The construction and donation of the classroom was coordinated by Ceylinco Life’s Dehiattakandiya Branch, under a community project begun by the company in 2004. Over the past 15 years, Ceylinco Life has invested nearly Rs. 50 million in this initiative, to improve facilities and the learning environment for multiple batches of students.
Despite its limitations, the beneficiary school had performed well at all-island English Day competitions, and 21 of 48 students that sat for the Year 5 scholarship examination last year passed.
“We continue to invest in education and school infrastructure because we live by our credo that life insurance is a relationship for life, not just with our current policyholders but with future generations as well,” Ceylinco Life Managing Director and CEO Thushara Ranasinghe said. “It is not uncommon to see classes being conducted in makeshift sheds and under trees in some villages in Sri Lanka, and we have persisted in our efforts to redress this situation with an enduring contribution.”
Ceylinco Life built and donated classroom buildings to eleven needy schools in 2018-19, accelerating the community initiative it began 15 years ago. Every classroom built over the years continues to be monitored by the Company to ensure it serves many generations of students, and in the concluded year, Ceylinco Life returned to 38 of them to undertake re-painting and repairs, even as it continued to identify more schools for buildings to be built in the years ahead.
Commencing with a classroom built for the Tissa Primary School in Lunugamvehera in 2004, Ceylinco Life’s schools infrastructure project has traversed the length and breadth of Sri Lanka, assisting schools in diverse locations such as Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Mutur, Batticaloa, Sittandy, Mollipatana, Ayithyamalai, Embilipitiya, Nivithigala, Beligala, Avissawella, Deniyaya, Kamburupitiya, Bandarawela, Haputale, Rambukkana, Kandy, Pilimatalawa, Madulkele, Rikillagaskada, Rajawella, Matale, Galgamuwa, Padaviya, Boraluwewa, Anuradhapura, Moneragala, Anamaduwa, Matugama, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Wellawaya, Talawa, Chilaw, Galagedara, Rathkarawwa, Hatton, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Welimada, Puttalam and Polonnaruwa.
