Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s nationally-significant campaign to boost digital literacy in Sri Lanka has reached an impactful milestone with the completion of the 300^th IT Lab donation by the Bank.

Commercial Bank Chairman Mr Sharhan Muhseen, Deputy Chairman Mr Raja Senanayake, Managing Director Mr Sanath Manatunge, Chief Financial Officer Mr Nandika Buddhipala and Deputy General Manager Retail Banking & Marketing Mr Hasrath Munasinghe, who are Trustees of the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility Trust, led the Bank’s representation at the beneficiary school – Nalanda Boys Central College, Minuwangoda, at this momentous event.

Every IT lab donated by Commercial Bank is equipped with new computers and accessories, and furniture, and is maintained and upgraded by the Bank periodically to ensure that the labs are used by multiple batches of students over many years. The Bank estimates that the IT labs it has donated to schools have already benefitted more than 300,000 students.

Funded as a flagship corporate social responsibility initiative of its CSR Trust, Commercial Bank’s IT education programme is aligned with the country’s Sustainable Development Goals, one of which is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for everyone.

Commercial Bank’s largest commitment in the sphere of corporate social responsibility is to digital technology education in Sri Lanka. Besides the 300 IT labs donated, the Bank has committed itself to be a key partner in the national Smart Schools initiative where 165 schools have been equipped with digital learning facilities. The Bank has also funded digitized school curriculum content complete with practical videos and presentations to facilitate easy learning for students, donated 170 STEM Classrooms and 120 Math Labs to improve critical thinking of students, supported 3,000 students to get qualified via CISCO Networking Academy and launched a software learning platform in government schools by establishing coding clubs to impart coding ability to students.

In 2023, the Bank launched a new project to promote science education in 50 schools in collaboration with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Science Branch of the Ministry of Education. The project is one of a series of initiatives supported by the Bank to take science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to schools across the country.

Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon neutral bank, Commercial Bank is the largest private sector bank in Sri Lanka and the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World. The Bank is the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector, and is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector. Commercial Bank operates a strategically-located network of branches and 966 automated machines island-wide, and has the widest international footprint among Sri Lankan Banks, with 20 outlets in Bangladesh, a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, and a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake in the Maldives.

Photo caption: Commercial Bank Chairman Mr Sharhan Muhseen, Deputy Chairman Mr Raja Senanayake and Managing Director/CEO Mr Sanath Manatunge at the formal opening of the 300^th IT Lab donated by the Bank.