Room to Read Sri Lanka in collaboration with CSE rings bell for ‘International Day of Education 2023’

■ “We are working with the state university network in Sri Lanka to upgrade financial education among undergraduates and also conduct investor forums across the country with the objective of sharing better investment knowledge with the general public, with the support of the CSE branch network” – CSE Chairman

■ “Room to Read ensures that children in primary education learns to read and write with comprehension and that they become lifelong, independent readers. We also support girls in secondary education, to discover their own strength through life skills and financial literacy, so they can make independent, informed decisions, find the agency to realise their dreams and become financially independent” – Room to Read Sri Lanka Country Director

Room to Read Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), rang the market opening bell in commemoration of the ‘International Day of Education 2023,’ which falls on 24 January, themed ‘To invest in people, prioritize education.’

The ceremony was attended by Room to Read Sri Lanka Country Director Shevanthi Jayasuriya, Senior Manager – Communications Tharanga Gunawardena, Manager – Girls’ Education Program Imesha Wickramasinghe, Manager – Accounting and Finance Sagarika Beliketimulla, CSE past Chairman Dumith Fernando, CSE Chairman Dilshan Wirasekara, donor community of Room to Read Sri Lanka and the CSE senior management and staff.

Welcoming the invitees to the ceremony, CSE Chairman Dilshan Wirasekara highlighted, “The CSE’s education arm has also taken many successful initiatives throughout the past years and also wishes to take steps in the future, towards raising financial literacy awareness among the general public with special attention over youth.”

He also mentioned that, at present, 58% in Sri Lanka are financially literates, and this is an improvement from 35% in 2014 and he is happy to say, that the CSE is also contributed for these numbers to improve.

“We are also working with the state university network in Sri Lanka to upgrade financial education among undergraduates and also conduct investor forums across the country with the objective of sharing better investment knowledge with the general public, with the support of the CSE branch network,” Wirasekera added.

He also highlighted the fact that CSE is actively working to include ‘Capital Markets’ as a subject to the school curriculum.

Thanking CSE for giving the opportunity to ring the bell on behalf of the International Day of Education, Room to Read Sri Lanka Country Director Shevanthi Jayasuriya stated, “Education has being challenged in many ways during the past few years. While children in urban communities can often carry on their education despite these challenges, students in vulnerable communities risk dropping out of school entirely, when their education is interrupted and their lives are exacerbated by poverty.”

“Disruptions in school education may leave girls with no choice but to drop out of school and be forced to marry at an early age, and boys to find unskilled labour.”

Referring to the organisation’s future plans, Jayasuriya said that, for the next few years, Room to Read is committed to transforming the lives of 40 million children around the world through its ‘Vision 2025 strategy’. Strengthening this milestone, Room to Read Sri Lanka will work together with the Ministry of Education by supporting their ‘Reading Room’ initiative in 865 primary schools to help children across the country have access to child-friendly libraries.

The organisation will also provide technical assistance to the government to train 50 preschool teachers on read aloud activities to enhance their ability to teach oral language development to preschool children, and giving assistance to select Ministry of Education staff on how to train 40 lecturers from the National Colleges of Education (NCOE) and Government Teachers’ Colleges (GTC) on library management and reading strategies that support children’s habit of reading.

Its Girls’ Education Program will partner with the Government’s School Psycho-social Facilitation and Counselling units to provide technical expertise on mentoring students in secondary education.

She further insisted that it should be our individual and social responsibility to ensure that all children in the country should have access to quality, uninterrupted education that will reach a greater understanding and creating a more just society.

Room to Read is a global nonprofit organisation founded in 2000 that creates a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality. The organisation achieves this goal by helping children in historically lowincome communities to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading and by supporting girls in secondary education with life skills and financial literacy as they build skills to succeed in school and negotiate key life decisions. Since being founded, Room to Read has benefited more than 32 million children and has worked in 21 countries around the world to help young learners unlock their full potential through education. In Sri Lanka, it has transformed the lives of 1.6 million children and collaborates with the Ministry of Education and other partner organisations to deliver positive outcomes for children at scale.