Savibala Association, a team consisting of 30 persons who are parents of students at Vishaka Balika Vidyalaya, Sapugaskanda, organised a special felicitation program named Diriya Diyanee (Courageous Daughter) recently. The event was held at the school main hall with the participation of distinguished guests, teachers, parents and students, aimed at appreciating students of the school who excelled at the GCE Ordinary Level and Advanced Level examinations last year.
The organisers had a benchmark in selecting students who were entitled to receive awards - an Z Score greater than 1.6 in both Arts and Commerce streams and 1.3 in Science and Maths streams. Seven A’s was the benchmark for students who sat the ordinary level examination. Students who passed the ordinary levels were to be retained in the school for their advanced level education, to be eligible for the felicitation.
This year, 139 students who got high marks at both examinations were felicitated amid the cheerful applause of fellow students.
The main award of the event, the D.L. Padmaseeli Liyanage honorary award - named after the school’s founding principal, was given to the student who had the highest Z score at last year's GCE Advanced Level examination irrespective of the stream. This year there were two students who were entitled to the award - Gaya Hasitha Kumari and Parindya Kantheli.
“By organising this program we expect to achieve two things,” current President of the Savibala Association, Dr. Narada Fernando told the Youth Observer. Dr. Fernando who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Management at the University of Kelaniya, explained the objective of the event. “Our main target is to appreciate the students who recorded highest marks from both examinations. Those passes are their personal achievement as well as an achievement to the school as well. We also wanted to motivate students who will face these examinations in the future”.
In order to fulfill the latter, organisers gave the opportunity to younger students to participate in the event.
Adding more colour to the event, the organisers felicitated the school’s gymnastic team that got selected to participate at the World Gymnastic Championship which is currently being held in Vienna, Austria. It was another proud moment for the school as Vishaka Sapugaskanda was the only school in the Colombo region to got selected to take part in this event.
Parents in the Savibala group gifted each of the seven students in the Gymnastics team with a valuable travelling bag. They also sponsored one air ticket for a student of the team.
“We started the Savibala association in 2008 and organised our first Diriya Diyanee program for the 2010/2011 students. This is the 8th consecutive time we organised this event. We are expecting to do more activities to develop and enhance the academic progress of these children,” Dr. Fernando said. Developing infrastructure facilities of the school and supporting teachers are also objectives of the Savibala Association.