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| Sunday, 26 December 2004 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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HNB launches school library project by Hiran H.Senewiratne The leading Commercial Bank in the country, Hatton National Bank of Sri Lanka (HNB), has launched a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project to build 100 school libraries in rural areas along with its Gami Pubuduwa program. HNB will launch the program by building 16 school libraries in January next year in selected schools covering districts including- Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Ampara, Mulativu, Monaragala and others. "Knowledge is our biggest asset.Information holds the key to the future. Poor resources have barred a majority of our children from empowering themselves for the future," HNB Chairman/Managing Director Rienzie Wijetilleke said. He said that schools will be selected from around the country to house well-planned libraries, while existing libraries will be up-graded to higher standards.He said that this program will be an on going project as a part of the social responsibility of HNB. He said that most schools in rural areas lack even basic facilities such as teachers, resulting in poorly developed students. Wijetilleke said that 70 per cent of the total population of the country live in poverty, therefore they need some sort of assistance to be able to stand on their two feet. "We don't expect any funds from anybody for this program. We expect our staff and our customers to participate in this worthy cause by donating books essential for school libraries," he said. Deputy General Manager, Personal Banking Chandula Abeywickrema said that this project is based on a lot of research and preparation and will have improved infrastructure and it will furnish the libraries based on the findings to maximize their usage. The Gami Pubuduwa program the Banks's finest contribution to social upward mobility was built on a unique formula of progress that saw the bank sending well-trained bank officers to far-flung villages where they swiftly emerged as catalysts for growth. South Asia Partners - Sri Lanka (SAP-Sri) Executive Director Dr Padma Ratnayake said that their organisation works with HNB to coordinate the whole process. She said that since SAP-Sri is an organisations working for excessively marginalised people in the country who are always looking for poverty reduction measures. SAP-Sri will help HNB to select suitable schools for this purpose while the libraries will be overlooked by the Manager of the respective Branch of the Bank. |
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