Ceylinco Life donates new classroom buildings to 4 schools in one week
Ceylinco Life helped move students from temporary shelters to purpose-built classrooms when it donated buildings to four rural schools in four districts in a single week at the end of November, stepping up the pace of one of the Company’s principal community initiatives.
The Welideniya Kanishta Vidyalaya in Wanduramba (Galle District), the Kirinda Vidyalaya, Nikaweratiya (Kurunegala District), the Hulandawa Dakuna Maha Vidyalaya in Hulandawa (Moneragala District) and the Konketiyawa Vidyalaya, Bogahawewa (Anuradhapura District) were the recipients of the 71st, 72nd, 73rd and 74th school buildings donated by Ceylinco Life under this programme.
The first of this latest batch of beneficiary schools, the Welideniya Kanishta Vidyalaya, has 270 students and 15 teachers and had converted its library into a classroom due to a shortage of buildings that had compelled several classes to be accommodated in temporary shelters. The classroom built by Ceylinco Life will be used by the students of Grade 11.
The 60 year old Kirinda Vidyalaya, with 310 students and 20 teachers had been in the same plight, with several classes being housed in unsafe temporary shelters. Nevertheless, the school has achieved a 75 per cent pass rate at the GCE (Ordinary Level) examination and sent some of its students to all-island sporting events. The new classroom donated by Ceylinco Life has been earmarked for students of Grade 5 of this remote school.
Although its students had achieved the best results in the Uva province at the GCE Ordinary Level examination of 2015, the Hulandawa Dakuna Maha Vidyalaya (302 students, 29 teachers) had also faced space constraints and converted the school hall to classrooms when Ceylinco Life stepped into help with a new building that will accommodate the school’s dance classes.
The final beneficiary school, Konketiyawa Vidyalaya had several temporary shelters with mud flooring, wooden poles and tin roofs for classrooms. Students of Grade 2 of the school, which has 221 students and eight teachers, will move in to a new purpose-built classroom donated by Ceylinco Life when the new school year begins.
Commenting on Ceylinco Life’s schools infrastructure programme, the Company’s Managing Director and CEO Mr Thushara Ranasinghe said: “Education has always been a primary focus in our community efforts, and we have been building classrooms around the country for the past 14 years. In many areas, students undergo extraordinary hardships due to the lack of facilities. We consider it our duty to help create a more conducive environment for children to study even under challenging circumstances and conditions.”
The opening ceremonies for the four classrooms donated by the Company in the last week of November were conducted with much enthusiasm by parents, teachers and students of the respective schools.
Commencing with a classroom built for the Tissa Primary School in Lunugamvehera in 2004, Ceylinco Life’s schools infrastructure project has traversed the length and breadth of Sri Lanka, assisting schools in diverse locations such as Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Mutur, Batticaloa, Sittandy, Mollipatana, Ayithyamalai, Embilipitiya, Nivitigala, Beligala, Avissawella, Deniyaya, Kamburupitiya, Bandarawela, Haputale, Rambukkana, Kandy, Pilimatalawa, Madulkele, Rikillagaskada, Rajawella, Matale, Galgamuwa, Padaviya, Boraluwewa, Anuradhapura, Moneragala, Anamaduwa, Matugama, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Wellawaya and Talawa and Chilaw.
Ceylinco Life defines its Corporate Social Responsibility as ‘The continuing commitment of the Company to create a sustainable business environment even in the remotest areas of the country through meaningful interventions in areas such as healthcare and education for needy people, while providing protection and financial security of the highest quality.’
Besides contributing to the development of infrastructure in needy schools, the company also funds and coordinates a series of free medical camps across the country each year under its ‘Waidya Hamuwa’ (meet the doctor) programme, and donates essential equipment and infrastructure to hospitals.
Adjudged Sri Lanka’s Best Life Insurer in 2018 for the fifth consecutive year by World Finance, Ceylinco Life has been the market leader in Sri Lanka’s life insurance industry for 14 of the 30 years it has been in operation. The Company has close to a million lives covered by active policies and is acknowledged as a benchmark in the local insurance industry for innovation, product research and development, customer service, professional development and corporate social responsibility.
