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by Don Asoka Wijewardena

Education is fundamental to the development of any nation. It supplies trained manpower to run a country's services,profession and the economy.The Bank of Ceylon initiated "Ran Kekulu" in 1993 to encourage and motivate Grade 5 students to win scholarships to continue their education,said BoC Chairman Manik Nagahawatte at the BoC Ran Kekulu Scholarships Awards Ceremony at the BoC auditorium on Wednesday.

Chairman Nagahawatte said that around eight million accounts had been opened by students at BoC branches islandwide with a deposit of Rs.8 billion and the BoC had attributed this increase to the genuine interest of students who pursue education as the best investment. He said that as an esteemed state bank, the BoC had taken a great step forward to offer scholarship awards to students who had been successful at the fifth scholarship examination.

Nagahawatte also said that in this era of transition students should make every effort not to go astray but to focus their attention on their studies. Sri Lanka was immensely proud of the performance of some students at the Grade 5 scholarship examination as they had passed the examination in an excellent manner despite stiff competition.

Referring to the parents' role, Nagahawatte said that it was the responsibility of parents to guide their children on the right path with a sound education as the world was becoming violent for want of a good education. He said that learning English,information technology and science had become essential to become a fully-fledged personality.

Regarding the Ran Kekulu scholarship program, Nagahawatte explained that students with Ran Kekulu accounts who would pass the Grade 5 schlorship examinations be awarded scholarships worth Rs.10,000 each. The special feature of the Ran Kekulu account was that even parents could not withdraw money from the account as it was only the holder who could withdraw.

When asked about the benefits of the scheme, Nagahawatte said that an insurance scheme had also been introduced for the benefit of Ran Kekulu account holders and under this scheme in case the account holder would require hospitalisation for 10 diseases either in government or private hospitals Rs.300 would be paid to the account holder for one month and that amount would be deducted from the introduced annual insurance scheme worth Rs.75,000.

Sixty-six students of the Western Province (North) who had got through the scholarship examinations were given Rs.10,000 each by BoC Chairman and the Bank's General Manager S. M. P. Palihena. According to the Ran Kekulu scholarship program, another 750 scholarship will be introduced before the end of this year.

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