ComBank awards scholarships to 50 undergraduates

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon awarded scholarships to 50 more undergraduates from seven universities, under the Bank's CSR Trust's Sarasaviyata Nawa Saviyak community initiative, and has increased the value of each scholarship by 20 percent.

Undergraduates from 16 districts, who will each receive Rs 30,000 a year for the four or five years they spend at the university, were also presented with a laptop computer each by the Bank.

The bank's sixth scholarship presentation under this program was held on March 20 bringing the total number of scholarships presented to date to 250.

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake, Chairperson, University Grants Commission Prof. (Ms.) Kshanika Hirimburegama, the Chairman and Board of Directors of Commercial Bank and the corporate management of the Bank were present.

Minister S. B. Dissanayake said, "The Commercial Bank's scholarship program fulfils an important social obligation and shows the way to other corporate entities. This service of the Bank to the community is extremely important and has earned the respect of the government."

Commercial Bank Chairman Dinesh Weerakkody stressed the importance of skills development and mastering new skills to empower the government's program to make Sri Lanka a US$ 100 billion economy by 2016.

Recipients of Commercial Bank's undergraduate scholarships are chosen with the assistance of the University Grants Commission (UGC). Being ineligible for Mahapola or any other scholarship program, the number of attempts made at the GCE A/L examination, the number of school-going children in the family, parental income and the distance between the university and the student's home are some of the factors that are taken into consideration in identifying recipients.

This year's beneficiaries were from Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Badulla, Anuradhapura, Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Kandy, Kegalle, Kuruneglala, Matara, Nuwara Eliya, Puttalam, Monaragala and Ratnapura.

The 50 recipients of scholarships with Minister S B Dissanayake, Commercial Bank Chairman Dinesh Weerakkody, Chairperson of the UGC Prof. (Mrs.) Kshanika Hirimburegama and the Board of Directors of Commercial Bank.