DFCC makes school life rewarding for 50,000 children

DFCC has developed 100 needy schools in the country under its corporate social responsibility project banner 'Towards an Exemplary Society'. The project benefited around 50,000 children between 6 and 10 years.

Positive change in the behaviour of students in the classroom and outside.

The Bank together with its retail banking subsidiary Vardhana Bank, has been working on the project since 2010 under the guidance of the Ministry of Education. The project aims to uplift the lives of children by transforming their schools rural areas.

This is a unique project in which the turnaround in schools was in effect achieved by teams comprising teachers, students and parents of the schools together with DFCC staff volunteers in the 12-month program consisting of the Japanese principles of '5 S' + safety (6 S) and '3R' (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) concepts. In schools, change begins with teachers who have a positive outlook. To effect perceivable improvements, initially and on an ongoing basis, the Bank conducted seminars, workshops on positive thinking, change management, leadership development, teamwork and creative thinking exercises will experts in the fields. The well-known '5S' guru, Lal Fonseka was enlisted to lead the program.

DFCC's Vice President of Corporate Communications Rosheeni Wijesekera said despite the many hurdles the Bank had to overcome in implementing the program the DFCC has given a renewed sense of direction to 100 schools in the country including those in the North and the East.

Through the program the Bank expected schools to undergo market changes in terms of the condition of school buildings, surrounding gardens, arrangement of the classrooms and overall cleanliness.

"Through these changes, the important outcome expected was positive change in the behaviour of students in the classroom and outside. We noticed that after full implementation of the project, attendance improved in schools, children were happier, disciplined and improved productivity levels were observed".

DFCC Bank also received recognition for the project with a Distinguished Honoree 'Stevie Award' in 2010 at the International Business Awards (IBA) of USA.

In the same year the Bank received the Best CSR Project award in the Education and Training category at the Best Corporate Citizen's Award 2010 conducted by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.