Akurata Athwelak

“Education is a right, not a privilege. It is an opportunity, not an entitlement” – Arne Duncan

In Sri Lanka, about 4.2 million students are enrolled, yet not all of them have equitable access to all the available educational resources. Even if kids in metropolitan regions have access to all necessary facilities, education is not a luxury for children from rural areas who come from low-income households. Unfortunately, they do not have access to even the most basic school resources needed to complete their studies.

The project “Akurata Athwelak” was carried out by the RACUOCFMF’s Community Service Avenue with the goal of providing school materials to the pupils of Maddewila Kanishta Vidyalaya in Elpitiya. There are just 129 students in the entire school, with the majority of them coming from economically deprived homes.

The effort began when the school’s administration made a specific request for a few books to be donated to the children. Seeing this as an opportunity to aid these children who are aiming for a better future, we decided to donate additional necessary school materials, as well as books, to enable them to participate in school activities without interruption. The committee began looking for material and monetary donations after finalizing the list of goods we would donate. Making life easy, we were able to collect all the supplies we needed only through material donations. All the wonderful donors who come forward to support this good cause have our heartfelt gratitude.

We were eventually able to hand everything over to the principal of Maddewila Kansihta Vidyalaya on the 31st of May after collecting all of the necessary supplies. Books, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, and binder glue were among the items donated.

Especially during tough times like now, when the entire country is experiencing a financial recession, it was a fantastic opportunity for us, undergraduates, to help relieve some of the financial strain on parents, even if only for a short period. Our warmest gratitude goes out to everyone who gave and helped to make this initiative a success in any way they could.