Ex Sampath Bankers Club successfully completed its first CSR project when it set up a Children’s Library at a school which lacked many facilities as the children were all from very poor families in the area.

Duwegoda Primary School which is located in Halkadawala, a remote area in the Kalutara District. The executive council of the club took a decision to continue to assist the same school by engaging in more CSR projects in order to stay focused and continue to improve the school’s facilities.

The representatives of the club who visited the school observed that the standard of English of the students was very poor. It was impossible for the only English teacher in the school to single-handedly handle the gigantic task of teaching English to all students in the school. Almost all the parents were not literate in English which added to the problem. Therefore the Executive Council of the Club decided to engage a teacher from a school nearby to provide English tuition to the students. Since the students in Year-five were busy with studies for the scholarship exam it was decided to take on the students of Year-three and Year-four only. The classes are held after school hours for two hours each on two weekdays. The classes started on March and it was heartening to see that the students can now have a simple conversation about their personal details in English. Furthermore, they were very keen and were happy to be learning 
the language. 

The handing over took place on 11th January 2017, the day the new Year-one students were admitted to the school at a simple ceremony, with the parents of the new children also being present. Since the handing over of the Children’s Library and the refurbished principal’s office was scheduled along with the admission of new students the Principal requested the club to consider providing gifts for the thirty nine new students. Sampath Bank very generously provided the thirty nine school bags along with tills for this purpose and they were presented to the new students at this ceremony. The school principal, teachers and the parents in their speeches expressed their appreciation of the contribution made by the club to fulfill a long felt need of this poor remote school.