Rotary, Standard Chartered Schools Trust opens first school

Rotary Standard Chartered Schools Trust formally opened the Randombe Damnade Kanishta Vidyalaya the first school to be completed under the "Schools Reawakening" project.

The Trust was established as joint enterprise between Rotary Sri Lanka and Standard Chartered Bank for the purpose of rebuilding 25 schools destroyed or damaged by the tsunami.

Present on this occasion were Rotary International President Elect William Boyd, Past Rotary International President Luis Giay, Sir Thomas Harris Vice Chairman Standard Chartered Bank as well as representatives from North Devon Schools in the UK and Rotary District 1170, the sponsors of the new school.

The new school will also have a new name-Randombe Damnade Junior School - a fitting tribute to the head of the local temple who, when there was no land for the relocation of the school offered a part of the temple land for the school.

Even as the first school was commissioned, work is nearing completion on a few more and by June 2006 - 24 model schools, with significantly expanded classroom capacity, fully equipped computer and science laboratories and libraries will be handed back to the Ministry of Education. The project is estimated to cost over Rs. 1.2 Bln.

"In March this year, we made a commitment to rebuild these schools, ensuring transparency and accountability as key components of this undertaking; we are delighted to deliver on this commitment.

Our web site www.rotary-srilanka.org carries regular updates on the current status of each school, disbursement of funds, and summary of accounts" explained Chairman of the Board of Directors, Past District Governor K. Ravindran.

"We are also pleased to note that despite taking on the service of four full time employees to supervise this project which is spread across the entire affected coastline; our administrative costs are less than 1%", he said.