The acceptance of applications for the “Presidential Scholarship Program 2024/25” has been extended and a new deadline set for April 01, the President’s Media Division said.
This program, initiated by the President’s Fund under the advice of President Ranil Wickremesinghe and guided by President’s Secretary Mr. Saman Ekanayake, aims to benefit students who are studying despite facing various economic difficulties, the statement said.
The extension of the acceptance period for applications for the Presidential Scholarship Program 2024/25 has been implemented in response to numerous requests, it said.
Zonal education directors have informed about the program to principals, divisional secretaries, and Grama Niladhari Officers. The President’s Fund has encouraged parents to inquire about the program and submit the application form to the school principal accordingly.
Additionally, as per the directives issued by the Secretary to the Ministry of Education, the allocation of scholarships to each school based on the number of students will be determined by the Regional Director of Education. These scholarships will then be distributed to the respective school principals within their regions.
In line with this, all school principals are required to form a selection committee and, starting from April 1, 2024, choose the scholarship recipients based on the allocated scholarships for their school.
Furthermore, according to the instructions already given by the Secretary to the Ministry of Education, the number of scholarships that can be given to that school according to the number of students in each school will be decided by the Regional Director of Education and will be given to the principals of their region.
Therefore, all school principals are advised to form a selection committee, which will be responsible for selecting scholarship recipients based on the available scholarships allocated to their respective schools. This selection process is scheduled to take place after April 01, 2024.
Following the submission of lists, applications and details of eligible scholarship recipients selected by schools to the President’s Fund by the Ministry of Education, scholarships will be distributed over the course of the next 12 months, beginning in April 2024.
The program targets supporting 100,000 students from Grade 01 to Grade 11 studying in all 10,126 schools across Sri Lanka. An allocation of Rs. 3600 million from the President’s Fund has been designated for the entire scholarship program.
Selected scholarship recipients have been notified to open joint bank accounts at Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, or National Savings Bank branches, in collaboration with their parents or guardians. These respective banks have also agreed to deposit the related initial deposit amount in the scholarship recipient’s account by the banks itself as required.
Following the selection of scholarship recipients, the school principal will enter the recipient’s information and send a letter to the bank manager. The scholarship recipent, accompanied by their parent/guardian, will then meet with the managers of the respective bank branches to open a bank account as per instructions. Then, they must provide the bank account details to the principal.
For more details, you can visit the official Facebook page of the President’s Fund at www.facebook.com/president.fund.
--PMD
