Underprivileged children living in a rural village in Sri Lanka can now attend school with new hope while the youth of the village gain valuable IT knowledge thanks to a new Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon.

The CSR Trust has completed a village development project in Udawela in the Kurunagala district under which the Udawela Kumara Primary school was upgraded and two IT laboratories were built. The project initiated by the Development Credit Department of Commercial Bank was conducted under Village Development Programme of the Banks CSR Trust.

"The objective of this scheme is to identify villages that have less opportunities for development and to assist the people by improving basic amenities thereby improve the economy in the area," Nimal Luxshman, the Bank’s Deputy General Manager – Personal Banking said. "The Bank plays a key role at the initial stage as a facilitator and gradually encourages the people in the village to give the leadership under the supervision of the Bank’s officials."

The Udawela Kumara Primary school, which has classes up to grade nine is the only school located within the village. Eighty One students study in this school and a large number of village children do not attend school due to financial constraints.

The school project included colour washing of the existing school buildings, repairing and painting desks and chairs, construction of two additional toilets, providing sports goods and shoes for the students and setting up a fully equipped IT lab with three computers and other accessories. The Bank has also organized a mobile Dental clinic to be conducted for the students. A second IT laboratory with five computers was set up at the ‘Sri Sudharmaramaya, the village temple to serve school leavers. Some of the activities were carried out with the participation of the parents, teachers and students in a Shramadana.

"The Bank will expand this project with continuous monitoring and will help this village to uplift its living standards. Other such villages will also be identified and assisted in a similar manner," said Luxshman.

Commercial Bank’s Village Development Project focused on three key areas; to financially facilitate small scale entrepreneurs who are already engaged in a particular industry to expand their business activities, to financially assist the improvement of infrastructure facilities of the village and to uplift the social wellbeing of all segments of the village community.