Continuing with their focus of uplifting the country’s educational landscape by way of encouraging more readers and bringing books closer to the country’s youth, SLT-MOBITEL, the National ICT and Telecommunications Services Provider in partnership with Manusath Derana completed the second phase of an ongoing CSR project which is aimed at transforming decommissioned SLTB Busses into fully fledged libraries.
The launch event of the second phase took place recently at the Prime Minister’s office, where five SLTB busses were ceremonially released to rural schools in the presence of Hon. Prime Minister- Mahinda Rajapakse, Hon. Minister of Transport-Gamini Lokuge, Hon. State Minister of Transport-Dilum Amunugama, , Hon. Minister of trade, Marketing Development & Consumer Affairs- Mr. Bandula Gunawardane and other dignitaries from SLTB and Mr. Rohan Fernando- Chairman of SLT Group, Mr. Kiththi Perera- CEO of SLT, Mr. Chandika Vitharana, -Acting CEO of Mobitel, Mr. Prabhath Dahanayake- CMO of SLT ,Mr. Shashika Senarath- CMO of Mobitel and several other officers from SLT and Mobitel were present at the event. The National Library of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) were also part of this momentous initiative. Officials from the relevant government level segments were also present at the ceremony.
SLT-MOBITEL embarked on this national level CSR program with the prime objective of supporting and empowering rural schools by providing quality access to information technology and knowledge. The country’s students and young children are the future of tomorrow and thus, empowering them towards enhancing their literacy and inculcating into them the habit of reading and educating themselves was a factor that SLT-MOBITEL strongly believed in. Therefore, providing students, especially from rural areas of the country with access to reading materials through the entities of e-learning and m-learning platforms as well as a fully-equipped mobile library through this concept.
The Bus Library Project will renovate 25 SLTB buses and transform them into modern, fully-equipped mobile libraries which would provide students with reading facilities, access to Wi-Fi connectivity and other relevant support systems which would give curious children with the opportunity to connect them with the world of limitless information.
These Bus libraries will also act as mobile learning centres which will also equip students with access to revolutionary educational insights and resources. Following the success of the second phase, more decommissioned SLTB buses will also be remodelled and the program will oversee the release of a total of 25 library buses by the second week of March, including the five that were unveiled at the second phase.
About SLT-MOBITEL
SLT-MOBITEL is the National ICT and Telecommunications Service Provider in Sri Lanka. SLT enables opportunities that empower Sri Lankans and elevates the country’s standing in the global arena. SLT’s transformation into a digital service provider has seen the Company move beyond telecommunications services to provide a variety of services and solutions that cater to a digital lifestyle. Mobitel, the mobile arm of SLT launched the First Commercial 4.5G/4G+ Mobile Network in South Asia in 2018 and was the first network in South Asia to successfully showcase the deployment of 5G over a Mobile Network by connecting a commercial Mobile smartphone to its 5G network exceeding speeds of 1.55Gbps. Mobitel has made great strides in recent years to expand its influence in NB-IoT, Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Critical Communication technologies and solutions and has been adjudged as the Fastest 4G-LTE network in Sri Lanka for two consecutive years by Ookla, the global leader in internet speed and testing applications.
