Commercial Bank extends reach of its CSR initiatives in IT education
Saturday, 23 November 2013 00:00
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Computer labs donated to 115 schools and institutions by November 2013
The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has donated fully-equipped IT laboratories to 15 schools around Sri Lanka over the past six weeks stepping up the pace of its flagship social responsibility initiative to promote IT literacy on a national scale.
The bank donated its 100th IT lab to the Mirihanegama Kanishta Vidyalaya in Wariyapola on 26 September 2013, and had taken the number of donated labs to 115 by the first week of November. In all, Commercial Bank has donated IT labs to 44 schools in the year to date.
Schools in the nine provinces of the country have been covered by this program which has benefitted more than 100,000 students, and will serve the needs of thousands more in the years ahead, the bank said.
All schools that receive computer laboratories from Commercial Bank are provided brand new computers with licensed software. The schools are also provided accessories such as computer tables, printers and chairs. The bank provides assistance to maintain and upgrade these computer labs when necessary to ensure that the facilities benefit many batches of students.
Health equipment
The 44 IT labs donated by Commercial Bank in 2013 fall within 77 community projects funded by the bank during the year to date. These include donations of valuable medical equipment to eight healthcare institutions, eight other projects supporting initiatives linked with cultural heritage and assistance to disabled soldiers and 17 projects carried out by individual branches under a regional CSR budget.
The most recent health equipment donation was to the Wathupitiwala Base Hospital to which the bank donated two pulse Oxymeters, two ECG machines and other necessary equipment.
CSR activities in 2013 included the bank’s single biggest commitment to date, to completely rebuild the Kilinochchi Railway Station along the northern railway line. The new station built by the bank was ceremonially opened on 14th September by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
All centrally-funded Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives come under the purview of the Commercial Bank CSR Trust, established in 2004. The bank contributes a percentage of its post tax profits annually to the trust, and defines the overall goal of its CSR policy as ‘to generate measurable and sustainable social dividends for different segments of society, in particular those which require empowerment and enrichment’.
Scholarship scheme
The bank’s IT Education initiative is intended to enable younger generations and the country to face the future with confidence with world-class knowledge. This program shares synergy with the bank’s enduring vision of being the most technologically-advanced innovative and customer friendly financial services organisation in Sri Lanka.
Besides this initiative in the sphere of education, Commercial Bank grants scholarships and presents laptops to undergraduates annually, and has launched an English education program for rural children.
From 2013 onwards the bank will present 50 undergraduate scholarships and 50 laptops each year. The total number of scholarships presented to date is 250. The English education program has benefitted more than 400 students who participated in the first two programs, and is to be continued on a district by district basis.
English language training
Commercial Bank has also supported a British Council program to train 160 teachers of English, as part of its commitment to support the development of English language skills.
All programs selected for support by the Commercial Bank CSR Trust are sustained over a long period and are aligned with national priorities and the bank’s own vision and mission. The bank has, in addition to allocating funds, assigned staff resources and management representation to these projects to ensure they are well implemented and sustained.
This approach by the bank was acknowledged by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce last year when it awarded Commercial Bank the Gold Award in the ‘Education & Training’ category at the 2012 Best Corporate Citizen Awards for the bank’s country-wide program of donations of fully-equipped computer labs to schools and special needs groups and its annual scholarships for undergraduates.
