A primary school in the village of Siripura in the Polonnaruwa District will offer students commencing their first year of education in January 2020 a new smart classroom in a new building, thanks to the good corporate citizenship of Ceylinco Life.
The life insurance leader’s 80th donation of a purpose-built classroom, this one equipped with a projector, computer and sound system, benefitted the Siripura Prathamika Vidyalaya, a school of 260 students and just seven teachers.
The construction and donation of the classroom was coordinated by Ceylinco Life’s Dehiattakandiya Branch, under a community project begun by the Company in 2004. Over the past 15 years, Ceylinco Life has invested nearly Rs 50 million in this initiative, to improve facilities and the learning environment for multiple batches of students.
Despite its limitations, the beneficiary school had performed well at all-island English Day competitions, and 21 of 48 students that sat for the Year 5 scholarship examination last year passed.
“We continue to invest in education and school infrastructure because we live by our credo that life insurance is a relationship for life, not just with our current policyholders but with future generations as well,” Ceylinco Life Managing Director and CEO Mr Thushara Ranasinghe said. “It is not uncommon to see classes being conducted in makeshift sheds and under trees in some villages in Sri Lanka, and we have persisted in our efforts to redress this situation with an enduring contribution.”
Ceylinco Life built and donated classroom buildings to eleven needy schools in 2018-19, accelerating the community initiative it began 15 years ago. Every classroom built over the years continues to be monitored by the Company to ensure it serves many generations of students, and in the concluded year, Ceylinco Life returned to 38 of them to undertake re-painting and repairs, even as it continued to identify more schools for buildings to be built in the years ahead.
Commencing with a classroom built for the Tissa Primary School in Lunugamvehera in 2004, Ceylinco Life’s schools infrastructure project has traversed the length and breadth of Sri Lanka, assisting schools in diverse locations such as Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Mutur, Batticaloa, Sittandy, Mollipatana, Ayithyamalai, Embilipitiya, Nivithigala, Beligala, Avissawella, Deniyaya, Kamburupitiya, Bandarawela, Haputale, Rambukkana, Kandy, Pilimatalawa, Madulkele, Rikillagaskada, Rajawella, Matale, Galgamuwa, Padaviya, Boraluwewa, Anuradhapura, Moneragala, Anamaduwa, Matugama, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Wellawaya, Talawa, Chilaw, Galagedara, Rathkarawwa, Hatton, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Welimada, Puttalam and Polonnaruwa.
Ceylinco Life defines its Corporate Social Responsibility as ‘The continuing commitment of the Company to create a sustainable business environment even in the remotest areas of the country through meaningful interventions in areas such as healthcare and education for needy people, while providing protection and financial security of the highest quality.’
Besides contributing to the development of infrastructure in needy schools, the company also funds and coordinates a series of free medical camps across the country each year under its ‘Waidya Hamuwa’ (meet the doctor) programme which has benefitted more than 142,000 people to date, and donates essential equipment and infrastructure to hospitals.
Adjudged Sri Lanka’s ‘Most Valuable Life Insurance Brand’ by Brand Finance in 2019 and named the ‘Best Life Insurer’ in 2018 for the fifth consecutive year by World Finance, Ceylinco Life has been declared the most popular life insurance company in the country for 13 consecutive years by SLIM-Nielsen. The market leader in Sri Lanka’s life insurance industry for 15 of the 31 years it had been in operation by end 2018, the Company has close to a million lives covered by active policies and is acknowledged as a benchmark in the local insurance industry for innovation, product research and development, customer service, professional development and corporate social responsibility.