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| Sunday, 25 December 2005 |
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Rotary-Standard Chartered Schools Trust opens first school On the 8th of December, Rotary-Standard Chartered Schools Trust formally opened Randombe Damnade Kanishta Vidyalaya, the first school to be completed under the "Schools Reawakening" project. The Trust was established as a joint enterprise between Rotary Sri Lanka and the Standard Chartered Bank for the purpose of rebuilding 25 schools destroyed or damaged by the Asian Tsunami. Present on this occasion were Rotary International President-elect William Boyd, Past Rotary International President Luis Giay, Standard Chartered Bank, Sir Thomas Harris, Vice Chairman as well as representatives from North Devon Schools in the UK and Rotary District 1170, the sponsors of the new school. It was appropriate that the Trust chose Randombe Junior School as the starter of their project as the village of Randombe has a special historic link to the education system in Sri Lanka. Randombe, is the birthplace and home of Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara, the father of free education system in the country. It was way back in the year 1943 that Dr. Kannangara introduced his vision of provided free education to all students from Grade 1 upto University. A key item on the day's program was the unveiling of a special monument with a threefold dedication. The monument was in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Tsunami, in celebration of those who had survived and in gratitude to those special people who helped build the new school. The school will also have a new name -Randombe Damnade Junior School, a fitting tribute to the head of the local temple who, when there was no land for the relocation of the school offered a portion of the temple land for the school. Even as the first school was commissioned, work is nearing completion on a few more and by June 2006, 24 model schools, with significantly expanded class room capacity, fully equipped computer, science laboratories and libraries will be handed over to the Ministry of Education. The project is estimated to cost over LKR 1.2 bln. "In March this year, we made a commitment to rebuild these schools, ensuring transparency and accountability as key components of this undertaking; we are delighted to deliver on this commitment. Our web site www.rotary-srilanka.org, carries regular updates on the current status of each school, disbursement of funds and summary of accounts", explained Chairman of the Board of Directors, Past District Governor K. Ravindran. "We are also pleased to note that despite taking on the service of four full time employees to supervise this project which is spread across the entire affected coastline; our administrative costs were less than 1%". "It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with Rotary Sri Lanka on
this project which has not been about merely writing cheques; it has been
about the dedication of many people from the Rotary and the SCB who have
taken time off from their professional and business interests and families
to ensure the successful implementation of this project", stated, CEO for
Standard Chartered in Sri Lanka, Vishnu Mohan. |
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