The opening of one of the STEM Classrooms 

Lessons in progress in a donated STEM Classroom

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has completed its project to equip 100 schools island-wide with Smart Classrooms that deliver digitised educational content, a commitment it embarked on in its centenary year to transform orthodox educational institutions to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Centres.

The digital learning content required to implement this project was created free of charge by Headstart (Pvt) Ltd., which also developed the ‘Sipnena’ online education website funded by the bank, thereby giving the project its name: the‘100 Sipnena Smart STEM Schools’ initiative.

The classrooms currently benefit grade 10 and 11 students who are preparing for their GCE Ordinary Level examinations, a decision made to enable these students face the public exam with confidence, the bank said. Soon, these classrooms will also be open to students from grade one upwards. 

The 100 schools were selected by the bank from nearly 250 schools to which Commercial Bank has already donated IT Labs as part of its on-going effort to elevate IT literacy levels on a national scale.

After choosing the beneficiary schools, the bank determined suitable spaces to establish the STEM Centres and provided computers and multimedia projectors under the first phase of the initiative. 

The computers in these classrooms have access to offline digital content that consists of interactive lessons, presentations, diagrams and illustrated material, specifically developed to create a different learning experience for students in the science and commerce streams. 

Furthermore, the selected classrooms were renovated, furnished, and equipped by the Bank which also sponsored the training of teachers who facilitate e-learning.

Teams from ‘Sasnaka Sansadaya’ – an independent group of university lecturers and students, were deployed to train Smart Classroom teachers on making optimum use of the Sipnena digitised educational content. 

Phase two of the project will include introducing other educational initiatives supported by the bank such as Coding Clubs, Math Clubs & Camps, CISCO hardware courses, and vocational training support, depending on the individual success, progress, performance, and commitment of each school, the bank said. The organising of inter-school ICT competitions and granting of higher education scholarships to top performers to study at recognised universities such as SLIIT, NSBM and ESOFT too are in the pipeline for the second phase.

Commenting on this project, Commercial Bank Managing Director and Group CEO S. Renganathan said, “Although the 100 STEM Classrooms project began as part of the bank’s 100-year celebrations, it couldn’t have been initiated at a more appropriate time. 

With COVID-19 compelling online learning with urgency never-before experienced, we hope the Smart Classrooms will considerably facilitate the continuity and quality of education, especially for exam year students.”