Would you like your children, younger brothers and sisters to have a bright future by having an uninterrupted education? As you may know, many academically outstanding children in Sri Lanka have to give up their dreams at early stages of their education because of insufficient financial resources ...

Just by donating Canadian $15 (or, US$10) a month, you can become the sponsor of a needy Sri Lankan student, who will thank you from his/her heart for helping them to realize their dreams and help their families in turn. While 50 cents a day may not be a big amount for you, it really is a great help for many students in Sri Lanka – and it also gives tremendous satisfaction to you by realizing that you really made a child’s dream come true!!

Sri Lanka-Canada Scholarship Foundation is a volunteer organization registered in British Columbia, Canada, to help the needy students. The initial focus is on students in Sri Lanka who are studying in grades 11 and 12. The foundation annually selects a number of students (the number depending on the level of contributions received from sponsors like you) and provides Sri Lankan Rupees 500 (approximately, Canadian $11) per student per academic month for a total of 18 academic months (approximately two years). Any additional savings resulting from increased Canadian/US dollar exchange rate are used to provide study packs for additional students. In later years, the Foundation plans to extend its assistance to needy students in Canada, again initially focussing on students who have newly migrated from Sri Lanka, by providing them with study packs and general counseling.

With the exception of administrative costs such as bank service charges, postage, stationary and annual registration fees of the Foundation (which averages to less than 3.3% of your monthly contribution), all donations go directly to the students. There are no paid staff in the Foundation. All advertising costs (such as printing this brochure) and other miscellaneous costs are not paid from your sponsor donations, but are borne by other individual donations from supporters of the Foundation.

How are the students selected?

By advertising in Sri Lankan newspapers, applications are invited from students who satisfy the following criteria:

• An average academic standing of B+ in the GCE (O/L) (General Certificate of Education – Ordinary Level) examination
• A letter from the Principal of the school attesting to the suitability of the student for a scholarship, based on academic performance
• A letter from the Gramasevaka (the Government representative for the area of residence of the student) attesting to the suitability of the student for economic support for education based on the economic standing of the family (generally the monthly family income to be less than Canadian $50)

After the scholarship has been granted, the student’s suitability for continued assistance is evaluated once every 3 months from their performance in the term examinations conducted by the schools. An average B+ standing must be maintained at these examinations for the continuation of the scholarship.

The fund has been in operation since 1998. Currently, 57 students are receiving financial assistance and their scholarships have been awarded at ceremonies held in 1998 and 1999 in Sri Lanka, attended by the students, their families and the families of the scholarship sponsors.

Students periodically write to their sponsors, appreciating their kindness and help and how the donations made their dreams come true. You may directly write to them if you wish. Foundation’s annual financial statements filed with Revenue Canada can be mailed to you on request.

Mailing address:

Phone/Fax: (604) 951-6557

Printed: June 2000