A total of 360 top-performing students from Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province have been awarded grants of Rs 100,000 each by the President’s Fund in recognition of their exceptional results at the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination.
The awards ceremony was held on 27 July at the Swami Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic Studies in Batticaloa and was presided over by Speaker of Parliament Jagath Wickramaratne. This event marked the third phase of a nationwide initiative by the President’s Fund to reward district-level academic excellence at the Advanced Level.
Grants were presented to ten students from each of the six subject streams in the Ampara, Batticaloa, and Trincomalee districts, covering both the 2023 and 2024 examination years. The Fund allocated a total of Rs 36 million for this phase of the programme.
Launched initially in the Northern Province and later extended to the Southern Province, the programme will soon expand to the rest of the country.
Addressing the gathering, Speaker Wickramaratne underscored that the President’s Fund is a national asset built through public contributions, and should be used to uplift the people, particularly by investing in youth education. “The President’s Fund does not belong to an individual. It is a fund of the people and must serve the people,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment, Arun Hemachandra, noted that the Fund, once accessible only to a privileged few, is now being used more inclusively to support the broader public.
Eastern Province Governor Jayantha Lal Ratnasekera and Roshan Gamage, Senior Additional Secretary to the President and Secretary to the President’s Fund, also addressed the event, highlighting the Government’s ongoing efforts to promote equitable access to educational opportunities.
The ceremony was attended by Deputy Minister Hemachandra, MP Kanthasamy Prabu, Eastern University Vice-Chancellor Professor Pararajasingham Peratheepan, Batticaloa District Secretary J.J. Muralidaran, senior officials from the President’s Fund, provincial administrators, members of the Security Forces, students, and their families.
