One Laptop Per Child Project:

Chart Foundation donates 144 laptops

Nimesha Priyadarshani of Katawela Kanishta Vidyalaya was offered a scholarship to study at the Infosys Institute, Hyderabad by Infosys Institute, Founder and Chairman Nayana Moorthy.

She was one of the students sponsored by the Rotary Club of Colombo West, to follow the Toast Masters ‘speech’ Program.

The Chart Foundation, formed under the auspices of the Rotary Club of Colombo West, plans to take the next step by making the Katawela village an integral part of the global village.

The foundation will continue to provide extra Spoken English and IT education, to the students of the Katawela Kanishta Vidyalaya and begin a similar program at the Saraswathy Vidyalaya, both schools being near Mawathagama.

CHART Foundation has funded 144 XO laptops for children of Grades 1-5 in both schools. CHART Foundation chose this laptop because it features an inbuilt video camera, high-resolution dual-mode screen, waterproof, long battery life and solar panel re-charging capability together with mesh networking that enables children to connect and work together without the internet.

On December 10, 2009, President Mahinda Rajapaksa officially launched the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project at Temple Trees and CHART Foundation was recognized as the donor of the XO laptop for Katawela Kanishta Vidyalaya and Saraswathy Vidyalaya.

At this event, 20 students from each school received an XO laptop each. The remaining laptops for each of the Chart Foundation sponsored schools were handed by Chart Foundation officials and their sponsors on February 13 at two ceremonies in each school.