ComBank donates milestone 200th IT lab to Janadhipathi Vidyalaya, Matara

Saturday, 19 December 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Observing a lesson in the STEM classroom donated by the bank

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s nationally-scaled community initiative to elevate computer literacy levels in Sri Lanka reached an important milestone this week with the opening of the 200th IT lab donated by the bank, a landmark achievement in the year that the bank celebrates its 100th anniversary.

The recipient of the fully-equipped and furnished IT Lab was the Janadhipathi Vidyalaya, Matara, which also received a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) classroom from Sri Lanka’s benchmark private bank.

The IT lab was formally declared open by Commercial Bank’s Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe accompanied by the Bank’s Chief Operating Officer Sanath Manatunge and trustees of Bank’s CSR Trust.

Funded as a flagship corporate social responsibility initiative of the Bank’s CSR Trust, the 200 IT labs donated by Commercial Bank to schools and other institutions across the country are intended to raise IT literacy and facilitate the digital learning aspirations of students. In the sphere of corporate social responsibility, Commercial Bank’s largest contribution is towards IT education in Sri Lanka. Besides the 200 fully-equipped IT laboratories it has donated to date, the Bank is a partner to the ‘Smart Schools Project’ helping to introduce a comprehensive Learning Management System (LMS) to 65 schools in the country. The bank is also supporting a project to set up 100 Smart classrooms that focus on the STEM subjects as part of its centenary celebrations and funding projects to set up math labs in schools and to enhance vocational training opportunities for students that do not qualify for higher education. The Bank has also launched ‘Sipnena’ – its own innovative online educational website that brings the universe of knowledge closer to Sri Lankan children. The first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 10 years consecutively, Commercial Bank, which won more than 50 international and local awards in 2019, operates a network of 268 branches and 880 ATMs in Sri Lanka.

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.

Commercial Bank’s Chairman, Chief Operating Officer and Trustees of the bank’s CSR Trust at the opening of the 200th IT lab