Mother Sri Lanka, COMBank take IT education to two more rural schools

Another 2,000 students in two schools in Kebithigollewa and Kadawalawewa in the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Districts respectively now have an opportunity to learn IT, thanks to an ongoing community project of the Mother Sri Lanka Program of the Presidential Secretariat and the Commercial Bank of Ceylon.

Students of the Kadawa-lawewa Maha Vidyalaya in Jayanthipura and the Kebithigollewa Central College received computers, printers, chairs and tables under this program, and also received funds to renovate the buildings that house the two computer laboratories.

Both donations were made in response to requests made by the two schools through the Mother Sri Lanka program, the bank said.

The bank funds the project while the selection of schools and coordination is done by the Mother Sri Lanka program. Once a school is selected, the nearest branch of the Commercial Bank interacts closely with the school to ensure proper utilisation of the equipment.

The program also considers the grades for which each school conduct classes, the number of students and the availability of teachers to handle the subject of IT when selecting schools to be supported under this initiative.

The focussed approach of Commercial Bank to Social Responsibility helps the bank to monitor the functioning of the donated labs to make sure that these projects deliver sustained benefits, the bank said.

The IT labs donated to Kadawalawewa Maha Vidyalaya and Kebithigollewa Central College were the 57th and 58th IT labs donated under this national-scale project supported by Commercial Bank’s CSR Trust.

The bank’s CSR strategy is developed to complement the objectives, vision and mission of the Bank and supports its brand positioning of ‘for a better future.’ The Mother Sri Lanka program was launched to promote activities for a positive change in Sri Lanka and receives leadership direction and support from the Office of the President. It conducts activities, programs and communication campaigns to build pride in being Sri Lankan and develop positive thinking about Sri Lanka.

It conducts grassroots-level activity that contributes towards nation building through the development of professional, physical and spiritual wellbeing of all Sri Lankans and also attracts international resources towards developing Sri Lanka. Mother Sri Lanka is a not-for-profit charitable organisation.

The largest private bank in Sri Lanka, Commercial Bank is the only Sri Lankan bank to be listed two years consecutively in the world’s Top 1,000 Banks. The bank operates a network of 224 service points in Sri Lanka and a network of 540 ATMs, the single largest ATM network operated by a bank in the island. It also operates 17 service points in Bangladesh and is the fourth largest foreign bank in that country.

The bank has been adjudged ‘Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ for 14 consecutive years by ‘Global Finance’ Magazine, and has won multiple awards as the country’s best bank from ‘The Banker,’ ‘FinanceAsia,’ ‘Euromoney’ and ‘Trade Finance’ magazines.