Dialog scholars excel at A/L examinations

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE: Three Dialog scholars from Kurunegala, Vavuniya and Colombo, who were awarded scholarships in 2004 for outstanding performance at the Ordinary Level Examination, topped the national aggregate list at last year's Advanced Level Examination.

This is the second year in which three out of the top five performers in the Physical Science stream are Dialog Scholars. It is also the second time that a Dialog Scholar has been named the All Island Best Performer. The students who excelled in 2006 are K. Rajeevan from Vavuniya, Buddhi Wijerathna from Kurunegala and Manuda Herath from Colombo.

Manuda Herath, who was placed 1st in the Physical Science stream had this to say about being a winner of a Dialog Scholarship, "Financially the scholarship was a huge support, but more important was the boost to the level of confidence the students get through the exposure given by Dialog".

The Dialog Scholarship Programme recognizes students, who excel at the O/Level and A/Level Examinations and elect to pursue Physical Sciences. Other than the scholarships, formal training programs are also organized for Dialog scholars attending university on an ongoing basis to enhance the soft skills of the students and empower them to pursue their future aspirations.

These include sessions on communication & presentation skills, leadership & team building, etiquette training as well as overall personality development.

Interaction between the scholars and Dialog employees is also encouraged, which facilitates mentoring, internships and corporate exposure to prepare these scholars for a position of community leadership and service.

A community service initiative, where the scholars themselves participate to empower the differently able students at Sunflower Village by conducting computer lessons through Dialog's Change Trust Fund is also incorporated into the programme.

The scholarship program is a long standing part of Dialog Telekom's Corporate Responsibility thrust, focusing on enriching the nation through inclusion.

Dialog Telekom, an ISO 9001 certified company, is a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia. It operates a 2.5G GSM Network supporting the very latest in multimedia and mobile Internet services.