Sri Lanka Insurance holds ‘Life Subapathum’ award ceremony

Friday, 15 August 2014 00:44 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Waruni Paranagamage Sri Lanka Insurance launched a national scholarship program titled ‘Sri Lanka Insurance Life Subapathum’ at an event held on Tuesday at the BMICH, as a part of their social assistance initiative for the future generation. The 300 scholarship recipients representing 25 districts, which have excelled at the Grade five Scholarship examinations, GCE (O/L) and GCE (A/L) examination, were awarded at the event. Sri Lanka Insurance Managing Director Priyadasa Kudabalage said that as a government institute, the aim of the Sri Lanka Insurance is clearly different from the private sector insurance companies. “We are giving priority to the social grants and by the request of the President the company will follow its social services responsibility towards its customers.” The top four students from each district who excelled in the grade five scholarship examinations received a Rs. 20,000 lump sum while the top four district level ranking students of the GCE (O/L) received a lump sum of Rs. 40,000 each. The top 100 students who excelled at the GCE (A/L) examination comprising of 25 top ranking students each from the streams bio, mathematics, commerce and arts received a lump sum of Rs. 50,000 each. If the student’s parents or guardians are Sri Lanka Insurance Life policy holders the benefit will be offered for a continuous period as an annual payment until the child faces the net national level examination. The chief guest of the ceremony Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena said that Sri Lanka has become the top country in education in South Asian due to the knowledge-centred development policies of the ‘Mahinda Chintana’. “We had a push, from both national and international parties, to shift the corporation ownership to the private sector but as the Minister of Finance and Planning, the President’s effort is to make the corporation concentrate more on social assistance rather than economic benefits,” the Minister said.

Established in 1962 as a state owned corporation, Sri Lanka Insurance was converted to a private limited liability company for a brief period of six years and was reinstated as a nationalised company in 2009. The shift of the ownership to the state has further strengthened the company and today it is the largest government-owned insurer in the country with an unparalleled managed asset base of over Rs. 132 billion, the largest life fund in the insurance industry of Rs. 60 billion and a strong capitalisation of Rs. 6 billion. From its inception, it has been in the forefront of initiating projects that help develop the children of Sri Lanka and is constantly striving to uplift and enhance the environment within which it operates, taking conscious efforts to include sustainability reporting into its balance sheet. The company believes in nurturing the younger generation of the country with the aim to develop a generation of academically and physically sound Sri Lankans.