Room to Read rings the bell for International Education Day at CSE

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,” on  January 24, highlighting the theme “to invest in people, prioritize education.”

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

Welcoming the invitees , CSE Chairman, Dilshan Wirasekara highlighted that, 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.

At present, 58% in Sri Lanka are financially literate, and this is an improvement from 35% in 2014, he said noting that the CSE has 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,” Mr. Wirasekera added.

(L-R): CSE SVP, Mr. Niroshan Wijesundere, Room to Read Sri Lanka Senior Manager Communications, Ms. Tharanga Gunawardena, CSE Chairman, Mr. Dilshan Wirasekara, Room to Read Sri Lanka Country Director, Ms. Shevanthi Jayasuriya, Room to Read Sri Lanka Manager Accounting & Finance, Mrs. Sagarika Beliketimulla and Manager- Girls’ Education Program, Mrs. Imesha Wickramasinghe.

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, Ms. Shevanthi Jayasuriya stated that, “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 tofind unskilled labour. “

Referring to the organization’s future plans, Ms. 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 organization 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& Counseling units to provide technical expertise on mentoring students in secondary education.

Room to Read is a global nonprofit organization founded in 2000, that creates a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality.