The President’s Fund and the Ministry of Education have jointly implemented a scholarship program for students who excelled in the GCE O/L examination, under the guidance of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Zonal Educational Office considers skill, aesthetics, sports, and extra-curricular activities, as well as the economic and social status of the student’s family when awarding points for this program, the President’s Media Division (PMD) reported.

Under the first phase, 3,000 students across the country qualified, and 110 scholarship recipients with the highest merits in 11 education zones symbolically received their scholarships of Rs. 5,000 per month for two years at the Presidential Secretariat, the PMD said.
 
The scholarship program will award a total of 30 scholarships per zone, providing support to 3,000 students in 100 educational zones throughout the country. The scholarship program’s total estimated cost for the two-year duration is Rs. 360 million. 
The Ministry of Education informed schools through a circular, and a newspaper advertisement was also published to encourage applications for the scholarship program, it added.

Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha and Presidential Senior Adviser on National Security, Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake, Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake, Secretary of the Ministry of Education M.N. Ranasinghe, Secretary of the President’s Fund W.A. Sarath Kumara and several others participated in this event, according to the PMD.