The real challenge of COVID-19 goes far beyond the parameters of healthcare. It's changed the way we interact socially, and challenged the most fundamental of human needs such as access to food, employment and education; challenging the very fundamentals of our society and leaving many in an extremely vulnerable position.
HSBC Sri Lanka and
One of the communities most severely affected by the COVID-19 related lockdown is those identified as economically inactive poor families (EIPF). As people whose capabilities are extremely insufficient to engage in a productive economic activity due to many hindrances such as age, physical or mental strength and care commitments, they are inherently vulnerable.
Abandoned elders, disabled people and widows with infants who have no regular income source fall into this category. Their survival is more often dependent on very limited government social security programmes and close relatives who are, in most cases, struggling with poverty.
Under this project,
Children are another group who have felt the impact of the pandemic in great measure. In containing the virus, the country closed down schools and the education of children came to a standstill. The best way forward for recovery was making distant learning a possibility through e-learning and online schooling.
While this was the most viable option in theory, the reality is that only 48% of Sri Lankan households with children under the age of 18 have access to a smart phone or computer and even fewer, 34% have access to internet.
There are 10,167 schools enlisted island-wide, of which a large proportion does not even have access to electricity. Working with such ground realities, lessons being shared online or digitally is a bitter struggle for both teachers and students in rural
Under the umbrella of responding to COVID-19,
The project supports 3,000 children in most vulnerable schools with least access to distance learning from 11 districts in the country. Conducted in liaison with the provincial and district educational authorities with the support of Zonal Education Directors and the principals of the most vulnerable schools, the project supports 3,000 students directly and further thousands through the re-cycling of study material via the school library in the years to follow.
The above projects are being carried out as an extension to the COVID-19 relief programs by
© Pakistan Press International, source