Empowering the nation for tomorrow

by Husna Inayathullah

"One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way." - Frank Smith.

The English Day competition conducted by the John Keells Foundation's English Language Scholarship Program was held for the 10th consecutive year at the Bishop's College Auditorium, Colombo recently. The chief guest was Indrani Sugathadasa, Chairperson, Insurance Board of Sri Lanka.

The John Keells English Language Scholarship Program was launched in 2004 to enhance English language skills of school children and youth from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds throughout the island towards improving their opportunities for higher learning and sustainable employment.

Over the years, the program, managed by John Keells Foundation and implemented through the Gateway Language Centres has sponsored a range of scholarships empowering the lives of over 9,500 individuals in various parts of the country.

"English for Teens" is a program under which three different levels of four-month courses are on offer aimed at providing progressive English language training for school children. The foundation-level course targets children aged 12 to 14 years while students obtaining an honours pass are eligible for scholarships in the subsequent levels of pre intermediate and intermediate courses. In 2013 and 2014, 1462 scholarships were on offer with an aggregate of 1,387 schoolchildren completing the course with an attendance record of a minimum 80 percent.

The Foundation level course was conducted in 20 locations in 16 districts with 1219 children completing the course and 1,155 children being eligible to sit for the final examination. Another 166 children completed the pre-intermediate course in 12 districts. The 150 students who sat for the final examination obtained honours or merit passes.

The Foundation made a further addition to the advanced scholarship program, offering intermediate level scholarships to students who received an Honours Pass at the pre-intermediate level program in 2012 and 2013. Seventy-seven scholarships were awarded in six districts with 75 students maintaining the minimum 80 percent and completing the course.

As introduced in 2013, the performances were judged as a two-tiered competition namely, district level performances based on which the ten best items have been selected and invited to perform at English Day 2014.

This year the competition was held in two categories - Poetry and Drama. Matale, Colombo, Mullaitivu, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Ratnapura, Vavuniya, Negombo, Ampara and Galle were selected to perform for the English Day 2014. Four of the branches performed dramatised poems of five minutes duration and the other six branches performed the dramas of 10 minutes each.

The performances included familiar favourites such as "Cinderella" by the Grimm Brothers, "King o' the Cats" by Aaron Shepard, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou and "Plead Mercy (sabbe sattha bhavanthu sukhi thattha)by Anne Ranasinghe.

The students of the Trincomalee branch performed the drama "I learnt my lesson." Their performance was remarkable. The pronunciation and usage of the English accent was excellent. It shows how well the Gateway Language Centre has moulded the students in partnership with the John Keells English Language Scholarship Program.

The winners of the drama category were students from the Trincomalee branch for their performance of the drama "I learnt my lesson" and runners-up were from the Colombo branch.

The winner of the Poetry category was from the Galle branch and the runner-up was from the Negombo branch. The overall best performer was given to the character "Oscar" from the Ampara branch.

The performances were judged by a panel of three distinguished personalities in the field of English Theatre, Mohamed Adamaly, Sashi Mendis and AroshieJayasinghe.

A John Keells English Language scholar from Ampara K. D. Sachith Dilsankha said,"There are many tuition classes in our area but it is difficult to find an English course of international standard, where we can change and improve and John Keells Foundation provided us with that opportunity.

In remote areas such as Ampara we find it difficult to spend money for our studies as most of the students are from farming families. John Keells Foundation is doing a social service for students like me from poor families. Your service is remarkable we are grateful to you."