Seylan Bank opens landmark 125th library at rural school under Seylan Pahasara CSR project

Seylan Bank’s CSR project, ‘Seylan Pahasara’, recently commissioned its landmark, 125th library at Watereka Kanishtha Vidyalaya Godagama, amidst an enthusiastic gathering of Seylan staff, the principal and staff of the school and the students, fulfilling a long-felt need of a centre for learning in the school that would benefit the students in multiple ways. 

‘Seylan Pahasara’ was conceptualised to rebuild libraries in rural areas, especially in under-privileged schools. As a responsible corporate citizen of the country, Seylan Bank is determined to contribute towards children’s education island wide and nurture them all to become intelligent, knowledge-driven and productive citizens of the nation fortified with positive attitudes.

It is noteworthy to state that ‘Seylan Pahasara’ not only fosters curriculum based education in rural schools but also attempts to provide total quality education by way of donating books on personal grooming, leadership skills, sports, recreational activities, aesthetics etc. which are instrumental in nurturing well-balanced behavioural models. The project is structured   to donate few open air libraries too, fostering activity based learning. As a pivotal element, Seylan Bank persuades school authorities with partaking engagement for productive use of the libraries so as to ensure the benefit is always passed to students as ultimate beneficiaries. 

When selecting schools, the bank walks an extra mile and a half to consult principals, teachers and their various stakeholders to get qualitative and rational feedbacks in an inclusive manner, also with an active collaboration of Ministry of Education, provincial education departments, and other well-wishers. In addition, this initiative gives more opportunities to students to interact closely with the bank and augment their learning experience while making them familiarised with ethical banking environment as a future prospect. The success of this project largely lies with the bank’s integral efforts to involve relevant stakeholders and taking on board their insights and diverse expectations.

The ‘Seylan Pahasara’ project was launched in year 2013 as a gift of hope for the future generations on the occasion of commemorating the bank’s 25th anniversary. The initial road map of opening 100 libraries over a period of 4 years has been exceeded and the project has succeeded beyond expectations, tying in nicely with itsbelief of “Beyond Just Banking.” The project has now seen the completion of 125 libraries across the island, and currently the bank is working on opening libraries in areas such as Beliatta, Gampola, Jaffna, Kalmunai, Nelliady and Trincomalee, covering all the districts and raising the number to 250 by the year 2019.  

 Remarking on the momentous launch of the 125th library, Seylan Bank DGM – Marketing and Personal Banking Tilan Wijeyesekera said, “We are proud to inaugurate the 125th school library under the ‘Seylan Pahasara’ CSR project, having delighted thousands of students and devoted teachers, who will be benefitted from this library donation initiative by numerous means, today and tomorrow. Rebuilding dilapidated and rundown libraries and replenishing them with books, has infused a new spirit of hope and ambition amongst students in rural areas who can now avail of the fresh resources in their libraries to ignite a passion for reading and learning. 

These long-term repositories of knowledge also provide a gateway to e-learning, as we also donate computers and dongles in commensurate with traits of y-generation, who are savvy to technology and up-to-date methods of learning. Adding a new dimension and environmental value into ‘Seylan Pahasara’, we have recently instilled a tree planting effort at each library, emblematic to our hope, that like the saplings and trees, these school libraries too may sow the seeds of wisdom today to grow all able and independent future generations of unmatched values tomorrow.”