Etisalat Lanka comes forward to support ‘Nena Guna Thilina’ Presidential Book Project
Saturday, 2 November 2013 00:01
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
In its latest contribution towards uplifting the educational standards of children in Sri Lanka, Etisalat Lanka recently donated Rs. 2 million towards the Nena Guna Thilina Presidential Book Project, managed by the Welfare Society of the Presidential Secretariat.
The leading mobile telecommunications innovator joined hands with the project in 2011, with the aim of supporting the project’s objective to encourage and persuade children across Sri Lanka to improve their reading habits, knowledge and attitudes. This year under, the patronage of Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Etisalat also donated 100 e-book readers towards the project.
Enriching education standards
Elaborating further on their involvement in the initiative Director/CEO of Etisalat Lanka, Dumindra Ratnayaka said: “We have carried out many initiatives to uplift the education in Sri Lanka, and always have in mind the best interests of our future generations. Our contribution towards the Nena Guna Thilina Project is just one way of us affirming this commitment. We will continue to support in any way we can towards enriching the education standards of the children in this country.”
Nena Guna Thilana is a voluntary social responsibility initiative implemented with the support of donor individuals and organisations. The project has so far supported nearly 800 schools that mostly lack basic facilities. Over 275,000 books valued at nearly Rs. 60 million have been contributed towards the project. The contributions assist schools in encouraging them to start up new libraries or supplement their existing resources.
Reaching out to rural schools
Commenting further Geetha Fernando, Member of the CSR Team said “We joined hands with this project as a part of our CSR initiative ‘Etisalat Knowledge Centers’ which is implemented with the aim of enhancing the standard of education in Sri Lanka, by reaching out to rural schools across the island. We have supported various projects to enhance the education and ICT literacy of children in rural areas and are committed to continue these efforts. Etisalat ‘BookHub’ can be accessed free of charge, regardless of their mobile network. The platform hosts English, Sinhala and Tamil books in ebook format, and currently hosts over 300 e-books and features publications by Sri Lankan writers. We have donated 100 e-book readers towards the project with the pre-installed BookHub application to enable the students to access ebooks in Sinhala, Tamil and English.”
Inspiring and enriching people
Etisalat continues to discover new horizons and explore new possibilities, as one of the most powerful players in the telecommunications sphere in Sri Lanka. Its brand is set to journey beyond conventional boundaries to ‘Inspire’ the lives of every Sri Lankan. At the heart of its constant innovation of products and services, is the hope of inspiring and enriching people. Its focus extends from its customers to the greater community.
While uplifting the lives of many Sri Lankans, Etisalat also continues to make giant strides in the domain of communication innovation through Sri Lanka’s first eBook store Etisalat Book Hub, the Etisalat Web Patashala initiative (together with the State Trading Corporation and Ministry of Education) and AppZone, involving individual app developers and the industry software developers.
Redefining the cornerstone of innovation, Etisalat believes in customer centricity through quality and value creation. Offering Sri Lanka’s most cutting edge internet solutions with Dual Carrier HSPA+, Etisalat is currently the fastest growing telecommunication network in Sri Lanka, having surpassed over four million subscribers.
BookHub
In February 2012, Etisalat partnered with one of the most respected publishers, M. D. Gunasena and industry recognised technology provider, Microimage to launch Sri Lanka’s first ever online eBook store ‘Book Hub’ and eBook reader. The Book Hub can be accessed by all users free of charge, regardless of their mobile network and it hosts local English, Sinhala and Tamil books in an electronic format.
The platform currently hosts over 300 e-books and also features publications by Sri Lankan writers that include novels, children’s books, biographies. Users can shop through the portal, choose the books they want, and directly download them to their smart phone, tablet or PC.
Books will be paid for through an e-wallet; money can be inserted into the e-wallet using Etisalat reload cards and credit cards, regardless of your mobile service provider. BookHub was locally recognized last year for its unique concept and service to the community. Awarded by the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) were; Winner of Certificate of Special Merit in the Category of e-inclusion in 2012 and Participation at the e-Swabhimani Awards in 2012.
Sri Lanka was highlighted for the first time in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Information Report 2012. The report featured Sri Lanka due to the Emerging Android Ecosystem which is pioneered by Etisalat Lanka and BookHub was a significant contributor to this ecosystem. For more information visit www.thebookhub.lk.
