Hayleys Puritas Sathdiyawara gives brand new start to the school year for 2,200 children

What started off as the Group’s flagship Corporate Social Responsibility endeavor, “Puritas Sathdiyawara” which provides 110,000 litres (daily), of drinking water to over 25,000 people in 16 villages, in areas with high prevalence of the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Sri Lanka’s North and North Central provinces, has now evolved into its extension ‘Going Beyond’. This focuses on extending the support to the chosen villages from providing drinking water to the holistic development of the communities through educational development, youth empowerment and enhanced livelihood.

The Hayleys Puritas Sathdiyawara’s Going Beyond programme provided over 2,200 children from 9 schools in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Mullaithivu and Vavuniya districts all the items required to start off the school year, such as uniform material, school bags, exercise books and stationary for a whole school year as per the government book list.

“This particular project is an extension of scope of Hayleys Puritas Sath Diyawara, our flagship CSR initiative. Our primary purpose of this initiative is to eradicate the deadly chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) through focused, consistent and unwavering support of these villages. We are now going a step beyond this to offer holistic development and mentoring to different  segments of the village so that the communities will be able to attain a more prosperous and sustainable future. The support that we extend towards these children today will hopefully translate into a positive impact on our country’s future progress.” commented Mohan Pandithage, Chairman and Chief Executive, Hayleys Group.

Gamini Herath, School Principal of Nelumwewa Maha Vidyalaya, Polonnaruwa said, “I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Hayleys Group for supplying uniforms, stationary and the necessities to help our students secure a brighter tomorrow, and also for providing them and their families with access to clean drinking water and with that changing the quality of our lives and giving us the gift of hope.”

The entire student population in Nelumwewa Maha Vidyalaya , Padavi Balayaweva School in Padaviya, Parangiyawadiya Maha Vidyalaya in Horowpothana, Pihimbiyagollewa Maha Vidyalaya in Rambewa, Rathmalgahawewa Maha Vidyalya in Kahatagasdigiliya, Rotawewa Tamil School in Kudapokuna-Welikada, Ananthapuram Government Tamil Mixed School in Putukudiyirippu and D 10 Maithree Vidyalaya in Padaviya and students in Neriyakulam village in Vengalecheddikulam  received the school packs.

To date Hayleys Puritas Sath Diyawara has spent over Rs 50 million rupees to build 11 Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants to provide clean drinking water to the North and North Central provinces of Sri Lanka fully sponsored by different sectors of the Hayleys Group. In addition, the programme has set up model organic farms and provided training on effective waste management and also educated residents on turning waste into profits, thereby creating new livelihood opportunities and also empowering women. This year at least 5 more RO plants are scheduled to be declared open with a number  of Hayleys Group Sectors  further supporting this endeavor.

Hayleys PLC recently emerged victorious at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2016 winning the top spots in the categories – Best Employee Relations, Triple Bottom Line – Winner Social Sustainability, The Most Diversified Sector, and the title of Best Corporate Citizen 2016. In addition, the Group clinched the Grand Slam Award for winning the Best Corporate Citizen title five times in total.