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Saturday, 18 October 2014 03:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The donation was made in the presence of the Grama Niladhari of the Ambokke area, Neil Karunarathna, the Principal of the Ambokke Primary School Upul Nayananda, MillenniumIT CEO Mack Gill, COO Hemantha Jayawardena, Executive Vice President Faiq Faaiz, Chief Scientist Ajit Samaranayake, Kumar Sanagakkara and other MillenniumIT representatives.
As a leading technology solutions provider and a part of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), MillenniumIT has always been in the forefront of extending knowledge and expertise to the next generation. In keeping with this promise, the organisation, when approached by Kumar, was completely on board to help provide all the necessary hardware to set up this computer lab at the Ambokke Primary School.
MillenniumIT CEO Mack Gill said: “One of our long-term goals is to make IT more accessible and share our expertise within the country, especially in the rural areas and this is a great place to start this project. We are firmly committed to expand this endeavour and will be looking towards skill development in addition to donating hardware in the future. It has been a pleasure to work with Kumar on this project, and we look forward partnering with him on future philanthropic initiatives of this nature.”
Kumar Sangakkara, who came across the school last year while working on another CSR project was inspired by its attitude and determination to succeed. “As one of the trustees of the Foundation of Goodness, one of our main aims is to bridge the gap between the urban and rural communities and initiatives like this play a huge role in doing so. This is just a first step and we hope to expand to more schools and projects such as this, not just with hardware, but also with knowledge and guidance in the future. I extend my sincere thanks to MillenniumIT for partnering with me on this project, and certainly look forward to working with them on similar projects in the future,” he said.
Educating about 30 children from the Ambokke village from grades one through five, the little school has big ambitions for the future. Together with the village Grama Niladhari, Neil Karunaratne, Principal Upul Nayananda, initiated the village’s ‘Gnana Kendraya’ (Knowledge Centre) a few years ago as a dedicated resource to improve the learning facilities and life-skill development of the children in the village.
The centre, a sparse 12x13 room constructed with a Samurdhi loan and a village ‘shramadhanaya’ houses a modest library and reading centre, a Montessori for the toddlers and with its most recent acquisition, a computer lab.
Karunaratne said: “We want to accomplish big things with our little school and our village. The plan for the computer centre is to have lessons for the Ambokke primary school students during school hours, as well as lessons for the older students – many of whom attend the ‘Maha Vidyala’ situated outside our village as well as school leavers during the evenings and weekends.
