As an orgnization in the Education industry our CSR Initiatives are focused on uplifting rural communities in Sri Lanka by focusing on improving the quality of education received by students in these areas.
Our aim is not only to provide educational support to communities but to ensure these communities become self-sufficient so that they no longer require aid from external parties.
Padaviya is a rural village situated in the outskirts of the Anuradhapura district We were introduced to the Padaviya community through Live, Love, and Give a non-governmental organization dedicated to improving the lives of underprivileged communities in Sri Lanka.
The Padaviya community consists of children from various disciplines such as art, music, and dancing, whose talents have not been able to blossom due to the lack of resources available to them.
We decided to work with this community because we saw their potential to grow and their genuine desire to improve.
Segment 1 - Providing Provisions for studied
Phase 1 was broken down to 2 segments. In the first segment, we provided all the students of the Sunday school and Lakrivi classes who had an attendance of 70% and above with school bags and their required books for that year. The purpose of this initiative was to encourage their love for learning.
Segment 2 - Talent show and scholarship
The 2nd segment was a talent show performed by the students of the art, singing and dancing disciplines. This gave them an opportunity to present to everyone their talents and to motivate and encourage them to continue their passions. As a sequel of the talent show we selected three of the best talents from each segment and altogether 9 students were given scholarships for a period of one year to receive extra lessons from their teachers to develop upon their skill.
We didn't stop there, it was important that these classes had the necessary resources to train and hone the skills of these students, so we took on the task of equipping them with the resources they needed such as artboards, crayons, drawing paper for the art classes, materials to stitch leotards and gata bera for the dancing classes and an organ for the singing classes.
During Phase 2, we had our second visit to Padaviya. The reason of our visit this time was two fold. Firstly it was to monitor the progress the students had made so far in the period of the past 6 months. They had organized a mini talent show to present their talents to us and we were overjoyed to see the progress of these talented children.
Secondly, as a part of our aim of capacity building it was important that we sit with the community and spend time with them so that we can understand their strengths and their requirements more in depth to come with strategies for self-sufficiency. The Padaviya community and Father Gihan from the Padaviya Parish took it upon themselves to make sure we experience all of Padaviya. It left us in awe to see the many resources they have and the beauty of their village area. After many discussions with the students, parents, teachers, and the community we were able to plan our next strategy for the upcoming year.
Yes we are brining the young talented artists of Padaviya to Colombo, Sri Lanka to showcase their talent to all of the city.
This exhibition is planned to take place on the, 19th and 20th of November at Global Education Platform main office.
Where even you can be a part of making a contribution to their growth by purchasing their beautiful work which will be on display on that they.
We believe this will instill a sense of motivation and hope for each of the students to keep excelling in the their talents.
As part of our aim to uplift the community through education, we plan to continue the scholarship program for the year of 2025 for the students who are already being funded by GEP while also extending it to 9 other students.
Similar to the previous year, this year's scholarship winners will be selected through the annual talent show which will be held in Padaviya. As a new addition, we have added a new category, ‘public speaking’ as it turned out that there are many students with brilliant speaking skills. In addition, after the talent show we will be hosting be fun activities, games and for everyone who participated.
