- Jan 27th, 2009
SriLankan Airlines presented scholarships and awards to children of its employees who performed best at the last Year 5 Scholarship Examination, in keeping with the National Carrier’s corporate commitment towards uplifting the education of children throughout the country.
A total of 28 children who passed the exam - 14 boys and 14 girls - were presented cash awards and gift packs by the SriLankan Airlines Staff Welfare Society, at a ceremony in Katunayake recently.
The top four students received scholarships of financial support for their education for the entirety of their school careers – seven more years.
Pradeepa Dahanayake, Head of Human Resources at SriLankan, said: “The SriLankan Airlines Scholarship Programme has proved to be a resounding success over its 10 years in existence, and has assisted a large number of children to further their education. Every one of the 4,900 staff of the National Carrier is immensely proud of the success of these children, who are members of the extended SriLankan Family.”
The programme was founded in 1999, and the first scholarship winners have now successfully completed their schooling.
This year’s winners included 14 children from the Gampaha district, seven from the Colombo district, three from the Kandy district, and one each from the districts of Galle, Kurunegala, Kegalle and Puttalam.
SriLankan Airlines and its charitable arm SriLankan Cares have built a strong tradition of supporting children’s education. The airline recently completed the first phase of a project to uplift the Debarawewa Primary Navodaya Vidyalaya in the Hambantota District. Notable projects in the recent past have included the reconstruction of a Tsunami devastated school at Kalmunai through a Rs. 81 million project in 2006, and the adoption of Meepagama Maha Vidyalaya at Kalawana in the Ratnapura District in 2003.
The airline has also been involved in gifting schoolbooks to hundreds of the poorest school children throughout the country through an annual programme. In addition, it provides continuous support for undergraduates of the Universities of Colombo, Ruhuna, and Moratuwa, through dozens of internships every year.
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