Awarding of Dialog scholarships:

Private sector, engine of economy

Harshini PERERA

The contribution of professionals to the private and public sector is essential to go in line with the Government expectation to make Sri Lanka an aviation, power, commercial, communication and knowledge hub.

The private sector is the engine of a country's economy and it is always governed by the labour force.

The labour force not only needs the education but skills as well to present themselves to the commercial world. Out of the box thinking, negotiation skills and presentation skills are necessary for every professional to support the economy.

Irrespective of the field to which the youngsters contribute, the end result is to support the growth of the country's economy, Higher Education Secretary Dr.Sunil Navaratne said. He was speaking at the ceremony held to award scholarships to the highest ranked students in the Mathematics stream at the recently held G.C.E. Advanced Level examination by Dialog Telekom in partnership with the Higher Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission.

The students were selected from all the districts of the country and in addition to the 25 district top rankers, Dialog Scholarships are also awarded to the island's top scoring male and female students. Dialog Telekom PLC will support dialog scholars for the duration of their studies at leading technology universities in Sri Lanka.

"The Government has embarked on a program of rapid social and economic transformation, and we welcome the participation and support extended to us by responsible corporate citizens such as Dialog Telekom. Having led the telecommunications technology transformation in Sri Lanka, Dialog has also emerged as a key driver and proponent of inclusive education in Sri Lanka.

As a consistent and long-term partner of the education sector in Sri Lanka, Dialog has regularly, whether it be via technology innovation or via financial support, provided children from all walks of life with the facility to access high quality education," Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake said. The Dialog Scholarship scheme was launched in 2003, and has consistently embodied the vision of the company to support and empower the pluralisation of access to quality education.

Going in line with the company's steadfast commitment to empower parity education for all Sri Lankan citizens, Dialog Telekom and its parent company Axiata Group Berhard are signatories to the '1 Goal Education for All' mobile campaign. 1GOAL is an initiative by the GSMA to ensure that every child in the world has access to education by 2015.

Operators from all over the world have joined this cause, and together with FIFA, global football stars and education champions, 1GOAL has become a legacy of the FIFA Football World Cup 2010.