New library at School for the Deaf

You may have heard about special schools for children who are hearing impaired. One such institution is the School for the Deaf at Ratmalana. This school recently saw the addition of a new library.

The newly refurbished computer room which included many new computers and new tables and chairs was also opened on the same day. The projects were carried out by members of the DMS Recreation Club and the Past Pupils' Association of the school.

Many valuable books, a globe and a large world map was handed over to the Principal of the School for the Deaf, Marie Wijeyaratne by the President of the school's Past Pupils' Association, Shivantha Vivekanandan.

Promoting local performing arts

You have been reading a lot about Sri Lanka's indigenous arts on the Heritage Splendour pages. Now, there are plans to implement a comprehensive cultural promotion programme in the Western Province to preserve and promote local performing arts. The project includes action to promote traditional and indigenous dancing and music in the local as well as the international arena.

According to the Lankapuvath news agency, this plan is now being implemented with the forming of a cultural troupe of performing artistes in the province. The troupe comprising youth talented in dancing and music recently staged their maiden cultural pageant at the National Youth Services Council Hall in Maharagama.

Arrangements have also been made for them to perform at dancing and musical shows at provincial and national levels, as well as in foreign countries under international and bilateral cultural exchange programmes.

Plans are also under way to set up a Western Province cultural fund to promote this sector and to assist local artistes. The fund will support organisations which are formed by artistes engaged in traditional dance techniques, Lankapuvath said.

S-SAARC members show their colours

Can you remember the Junior Observer featuring S-SAARC, the children's SAARC Summit? Here is more news about this group. Some of the Sri Lankan students who took part in S-SAARC got the opportunity of participating in the Indian Model United Nations Conference- 2006 held from October 6 to 8 at Faridabad.

Over 110 schools from India and six schools from other countries, including Sri Lanka, participated in the event. These students represented 135 UN countries. The Sri Lankan students had the opportunity of representing Congo, Pakistan, Philippines, Belize and Chile as well.

Vikum Rajapakshe got the chance of chairing the committee on Disarmament and International Security, and became the best Committee Chair out of seven committees. Kemiya Kodituwakku from the second committee won the award for the best delegate.

Sajith Bandara and Tumal Karunaratne were nominated for the best delegate of the security group. The first Indian Model UN Conference was held in September 2001. It was initiated by the founder chairman of the Ryan Group of Schools and is held annually. The aim of this event is to let students act as diplomats involved in decision-making and conflict resolution at the United Nations.

Through this, students not only learn about the UN system, but also find out about the economic, social and environmental issues in today's world. They also learn to resolve problems through negotiations and diplomacy.

The local team will tour India again in December for the Delhi Public Schools Model United Nations (DPSMUN) 2006 Conference, which is a global classroom project of UN Association-USA.

This is the first time Sri Lanka has been invited for this event. It is organised by the Delhi Public School. Sri Lanka will represent China at this event, to be held from December 2-4.

J.A

Gateway students bag ICT awards

Students of Gateway Kids School of Computing, Gateway Centre for Information Technology, Gateway College Colombo and Gateway College, Kandy performed exceptionally well at the recently concluded Young Computer Scientist competition, and won 22 out of the 40 awards.

The competition, modelled on the Asia Pacific ICT Awards, was organised by the Sri Lanka Association for the Software Industry. The competition was held in two age groups; Junior Category (12-16 years) and Senior Category (17-19 years).

In the Junior category, Gateway students who won Merit Awards were Ramitha Soysa, Navin Gunatillake, Kavindu Diyes, Kasun Dias, Nilupul Bandara,Ramesh Weerakoon,Thejitha Gunasekera, Achith Senevirathne, Shamith Udayanga Payagala, Sesath Dias Bandaranayake, Haris Abdul Wahid, Dulan Lalintha Dantanarayana, Kushan Lalanga Fernando, Abdul Kareem Nowman Kareem, Sithira Vindula Ambepitiya, Ramitha Ishan Abeyratne, Vishvaka Ranasinghe, Sasika Pinnapola, Abdul Razzak Ashraf, Charindhi Ruwanka Weerasinghe, and Sarith Chalinda Pallewella.

In the Senior category, Madushani Madduma, Shabeer Ahamed, Chelaka De Alwis, Tharanga Egodage won Merit Awards.Among the high achievers in the Junior category were Chirantha Amerasinghe, who won a special Merit Award, and Sithira Serasinghe, who won the Silver Medal.

The gold medallist in the Junior category in this year's competition - Ganindu Nanayakkara, who represented Ananda College, was also a student of Gateway Centre for Information Technology, Borella.