DFCC helps turn around 100 rural schools
DFCC completes the development of 100 needy schools across the
country under their corporate social responsibility project banner
‘Towards an Exemplary Society’.
The project benefitted around 50,000 children aged 6-10 years. The
Bank together with its retail banking subsidiary Vardhana Bank, has been
working on the project since 2010 under the guidance of the Ministry of
Education.
The project aims to uplift the lives of children through the
transformation of their schools located especially in rural Sri Lanka.
This is a unique project in which the turn around in schools was in
effect achieved by teams consisting teachers, students and parents of
the respective schools together with DFCC staff volunteers through
implementing a 12 month-long programme consisting the Japanese
principles of ‘5 S’ + safety (6 S) and ‘3R’ (Reduce-Reuse- Recycle)
concepts. In Schools, change begins with teachers who have a positive
outlook.
To effect perceivable improvements, initially and on an on-going
basis, the Bank conducted seminars, workshops related to positive
thinking, change management, leadership development, teamwork and
creative thinking exercises using experts in the respective fields. The
well known ‘5S’ guru, Lal Fonseka was enlisted to lead the programme.
Despite the many hurdles the Bank had to overcome in implementing the
programme, today DFCC stands proud having given a renewed sense of
direction to 100 schools across the country including those in the North
and East.
Through the programme the Bank expected schools to undergo noticeable
changes in terms of the condition of school buildings, surrounding
gardens, arrangement of the classrooms and overall cleanliness. Through
these changes, the important outcome expected was positive change in the
behavior of students in the classroom and outside.
“We noticed that after full implementation of the project, attendance
improved in schools, children were happier, disciplined and improved
productivity levels were observed, commented,” Rosheeni Wijesekera,
DFCC’s Vice President of Corporate Communications.
DFCC received recognition for the project with a Distinguished
Honoree ‘Stevie Award’ in 2010 at the International Business Awards
(IBA) of USA.
In the same year the Bank collected the Best CSR Project award in the
Education and Training category at the Best Corporate Citizen’s Award
2010 conducted by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
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