London Opticians Gift Smart Classroom to Rural Sri Lankan Students

A fund-raising initiative inspired by Sri Lankan Sujith Weerasinghe, Specsavers North West London Regional Relationship Manager, has resulted in a primary and secondary school being supplied with laptops, iPads, textbooks, school bags and a SMART classroom.

Donations were raised by store partners from the North West London region who wanted to support the ‘My Hope UK Lanka Foundation’ charity founded by Sujith in 2012.

The primary aim of the charity is to provide practical assistance to underprivileged Sri Lankan communities and children who lack access to key healthcare and essential items such as sight tests and in the case of local children, shoes, school books and stationery.

Commenting on the Specsavers regional support Sujith said: ‘I was approached by the North West London regional chair and vice chair, Lyndon Matroos and Raj Kukadia, who wanted to make a difference and support the Foundation and build on the support garnered by the previous chair, Tejal Sheth.

'The money collected was utilised to provide a SMART interactive digital classroom to a secondary school in Polonnaruwa and a primary school in Kandy, both located in the North Central Province. The district education officer inaugurated this cutting-edge learning space.'

In April, over 50 children in Polonnaruwa received a pair of new school shoes and text books. Musical instruments were supplied to both schools and there are on-going plans by the charity to support further education for children in the region, including the supply of musical instruments for those with particular talents. The charity continues to provide practical assistance and hope to those children most in need.

Commenting on the achievements to date, Sujith said: ‘These donations are life changing, as they give hope to the children. Plus, more importantly it builds on their personal skills, developing their confidence, self-worth and self-esteem.

‘As a team and organisation, we remain committed to on-going projects to provide support to remote village schools in Sri Lanka.’