Sarath Bulathsinghala

21 April 2020

Free Education recipients of Sri Lanka,

Brave Sri Lanka is weathering a storm of unprecedented proportions alongside other countries in the world – The Corvid-19 Pandemic. This is the gravest threat to the modern world in living memory. The human cost has been heartrending, the economic cost colossal and the full implications how we all will be affected in the future yet to be ascertained!

Our motherland, Sri Lanka is meeting this disaster headlong and the role played by the Presidential Task Force is commendable, to say the least! The relevant expertise has been husbanded and put into good use and the results are there for all to see. Today Sri Lanka ranks high alongside a host of wealthy countries who have resources impoverished Sri Lanka can only dream of! The day the world is out of the Corvid-19 jungle and when the cost is counted and the responses to the threat are judged in all its aspects and ranked, I hope to see Sri Lanka at the very top!

The dedication of all involved, The Presidential Task Force, the Health Officials, the Armed Forces, the Police and Intelligence Services Officials down to ordinary people giving a hand in anything they can contribute towards common effort is not surprising to us Sri Lankans. We have come together as one before during natural disasters, recurrent floods a tsunami as well as many manmade disasters since we gained independence from Britain. Here we are facing another disaster with equal vigour and dedication. It is time to give a hand to this noble task and stand proud and tall to be counted!

MOST OF US SRI LANKANS, EXCEPT FOR A VERY FEW WHETHER IN SRI LANKA OR CURRENTLY DOMICILED ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD ARE RECIPIENTS OF FREE EDUCATION IN SRI LANKA, AT LEAST IN OUR FORMATIVE YEARS. AT THE OTHER END, WE RECEIVED EDUCATION UP TO UNIVERSITY LEVEL AND GOING FURTHER BECAME RECIPIENTS OF GOVERNMENT SCHOLARSHIPS OR THOSE OFFERED TO SRI LANKANS BY FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. SOME RETURNED TO SRI LANKA AND OTHERS LIVE SCATTERED AROUND THE WORLD AS PER OUR WISHES AND CIRCUMSTANCES. WE ALL OWE SRI LANKA, OUR MOTHERLAND A DEBT OF GRATITUDE FOR THE FREE EDUCATION AND FREE HEALTHCARE WE RECEIVED AND THERE IS NO BETTER TIME THAN NOW DURING THE CORVID-19 PANDEMIC TO DO SO WHILE WE STILL CAN! 

The way proposed here to is to institute a collection funddedicated to the memory of Hon CWW Kannangara – the father of Free Education in Sri Lanka.  The trials and tribulations of  Hon CWW Kannangara to bring about universal free education to all and sundry and the necessary legislation to do so in the 1930-40s through the then legislative process is now history and praiseworthy! 

This fund is to be set up to collect funds for Sri Lanka’s current efforts to contain the Corvid-19 situation as well as eventually to bring the nation out of the pandemic to a healthy situation health-wise as well as economy wise. 

Wherever we are in the world or in whatever station of life we find ourselves, we are in a position to contribute even in a token way, each according to his wish and ability to the Presidential Fund also called Corvid-19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund through the above mentioned Kannangara Free Education Fund (KFEF)

All recipients of Free Education in Sri Lanka are invited to give a hand to this noble objective. I propose a lively discussion through the Lankaweb Forum on  how exactly this may be done so that different views can be entertained and a suitable modus operandi agreed to transfer the funds to the COVID – 19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund with the least possible delay.

All the donations from the KFE Fund can be credited periodically to the special account opened under the number   85737373 at the Corporate Branch of the Bank of Ceylon.  Donations to COVID – 19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund have been exempted from taxes and foreign exchange regulations.

IN SUMMARY, WHAT IS PROPOSED HERE IS TO SET UP A FUND TO BE CALLED THE KANNANGARA FREE EDUCATION FUND (KFEF) THROUGH WHICH FUNDS TO THE ABOVE MENTIONED ACCOUNT OF THE COVID – 19 HEALTHCARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY FUND CAN BE TRANSFERRED TO BE SEEN AS COMING FROM THE GRATEFUL RECIPIENTS OF THE FREE EDUCATION IN SRI LANKA!