Commercial Bank extends reach of its CSR initiatives in IT education

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has donated fully-equipped IT laboratories to 15 schools around Sri Lanka over the past six weeks stepping up the pace of its flagship social responsibility initiative to promote IT literacy on a national scale.

The Bank donated its 100th IT lab to the Mirihanegama Kanishta Vidyalaya in Wariyapola on 26th September 2013, and had taken the number of donated labs to 115 by the first week of November. In all, Commercial Bank has donated IT labs to 44 schools in the year to date.

Schools in the nine provinces of the country have been covered by this programme which has benefitted more than 100,000 students, and will serve the needs of thousands more in the years ahead, the bank said.

All schools that receive computer laboratories from Commercial Bank are provided brand new computers with licensed software. The schools are also provided accessories such as computer tables, printers and chairs. The bank provides assistance to maintain and upgrade these computer labs when necessary to ensure that the facilities benefit many batches of students.

The 44 IT labs donated by the Commercial Bank in 2013 fall with- in 77 community projects funded by the bank during the year to date. These include donations of valuable medical equipment to eight healthcare institutions, eight other projects supporting initiatives linked with cultural heritage and assistance to disabled soldiers and 17 projects carried out by individual branches under a regional CSR budget. The most recent health equipment donation was to the Wathupitiwala Base Hospital to which the Bank donated two pulse Oxymeters, two ECG machines and other necessary equipment.

CSR activities in 2013 included the Bank's single biggest commitment to date, to completely rebuild the Kilinochchi Railway Station along the northern railway line. The new station built by the Bank was ceremonially opened on 14th September by His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa.