Awards ceremony for Mother Sri Lanka

The awards ceremony of the Mother Sri Lanka Schools Programme was held in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees recently. The program, conducted under the theme, 'Apen Ratata - Rata Nagumata' involved over three million schoolchildren.

Students from 2,600 national and international schools from all nine provinces participated in the program, of which 43 schools were selected as finalists. Following the finals, held on June 17 and 18 at the Visakha Vidyalaya auditorium, winners from the Sinhala, Tamil and English medium categories received their awards from President Rajapaksa. The awards ceremony also featured a play performed by one of the participant schools.

The program was organised and implemented by the Mother Sri Lanka Trust together with the Ministry of Education with the aim of building positive thinking about the country especially among the children, and instilling a sense of pride and patriotism among all Sri Lankans.

Each school was required to submit a team of eight students. The teams were tasked with making presentations on how they could be a part of the country's development by thinking 'country first' and work towards lasting change, by making an effort to change their actions. Presentations were done in the form of dramas, songs and speeches. Each team was evaluated by a panel of judges comprising independent personnel representing various fields.

Some of the presentations done by the students were on the themes of ethnic harmony, environmental protection and working with each other to address communal issues, while several presentations helped raise awareness of the rich resources of the country.

Speaking on the competition and its objectives, Director, Strategy and Perceptions Management Unit of the Presidential Secretariat and the founder of Mother Sri Lanka, Janaki Kuruppu, said, "Sri Lanka is stepping into a new era with the end of the conflict, and at this moment, we need to build patriotism and encourage people to think positively about Sri Lanka, especially the children, because they are the future of our country. This is our main objective, but we aim to go beyond this, and encourage people to act upon that patriotic feeling".Since February 2009, the team from Mother Sri Lanka travelled across the island, starting off from the Southern Province introducing the program among 347 schools in the South. Funds for the program were provided by several private sector organisations including AMW Group, Phoenix Group, Ceylon Biscuits Group, Fonterra, Hemas Group, John Keells Holdings, NSB, Lanka Bell, Rupavahini, Swarnavahini and Commercial Bank. To continue this effort, steps have been taken to establish Mother Sri Lanka School Clubs at the participatory schools, as the second stage of the schools programme. Each school is required to start a project that will contribute towards the betterment of their school, immediate community and eventually the country. Projects picked by schools so far include constructing or improving computer labs, science labs, libraries, sports and art facilities, looking after the environment and raising awareness of road rules.

Established in January 2009, at a crucial juncture, Mother Sri Lanka has worked towards providing an opportunity for all the people of this country to come together and contribute towards their motherland. This effort was also recognised by the International Association of Lions Clubs where Mother Sri Lanka was awarded the prestigious Most Outstanding Sri Lankan Award for 2010 under the category of 'Community Service".

Unsuitable websites banned on mobile phones

by Rohana JAYALAL

The Child Development and Women's Empowerment Ministry jointly with the Child Protection Authority has taken steps to ban access to unsuitable websites on mobile phones, considering the future of the younger generation, Ministry sources told the Junior Observer.

According to the sources, many youngsters under the age of 18 have been accessing unsuitable websites of late. This has been higher among young people in urban and suburban areas, Child Protection Authority records showed.

The Juvenile Court in Bambalapitiya recently ordered mobile phone service providers to bar such websites in their services following a petition filed by the Women's and Children's Bureau in the Juvenile Court, seeking an order to bar such websites.

As a result, the five mobile telephone service providers agreed to ban such websites.

Holiday camp for children

Footprints, a holiday activity camp organised by the Lighthouse Centre for Early Learning, will be held from August 16 to 20 (8.30 a.m. - 5.30 p.m. daily) at St. Andrew's Scots Kirk, Galle Face.

The camp has been designed to help develop the varied skills of the participants, making them aware of games played in bygone eras, practise physical fitness, help express themselves, socialise, develop friendships, make positive use of leisure time etc.

The camp will be conducted by USA-trained early childhood programme specialist, teacher, event planner and former Eco Consultant and initiator of the Eco Friendly Club of St. Peter's College, Colombo Virginia Feltman, supported by pre-school teacher Asangi Wijesinghe and artist and textile designer Shamini Candappa.

The camp is open to children between the ages of eight and 12. The closing date for registration is July 25.