නැණ පහන – දිවියට අත්වැලක්

In our educational culture, Advanced Level examination imposes a huge impact on a better part of a person’s life including his/her career path as well. Being faced with a decision to choose among fields of specialization at such a young age, just after facing Ordinary Level examination is quite a challenging task for a 16-year-old. All of us have been there. That is why a guidance from an experienced person in this matter is extremely important. Furthermore, we believe a guidance based on the first-hand experience of the same generation is far more appealing and effective for these young minds.

With the aim of enabling students in more informed and confident decision making regarding the field of specialization for A/L’s, we, the Rotaract Club of Alumni of University of Moratuwa launched ‘නැණ පහන – දිවියට අත්වැලක්, a career guidance programme for Ordinary Level students. After carefully filtering, Pagnananda Vidyalaya, Kahapola, was selected to be the beneficiary of the project, considering the unavailability of Advanced Level classes in the school and the proportion of students who proceed to Advanced Levels.

Dr. Lakshman Rukmal, principal of the school, together with the academic staff, gave an immense support in making this project a reality, by providing us with logistics and allowing the students to participate in the programme. We covered aspects such as prerequisites, career opportunities and success stories related to each stream of Arts, Combined Mathematics, Biology and Technical stream. Rtr. PP. Anuradha Senanayake, District Rotaract Representative of Rotaract District 3220, Rtr. Thilina Weerakkody and Rtr. Chamara Herath joined this occasion as guest speakers, who did an excellent job in motivating students.

Feedback from the students as well as the academic staff was overwhelming, as they showed their gratitude for organizing such a programme. The principal pointed out the importance of guidance from the same generation and its effectiveness, as he mentioned the benefits of continued support from the club in uplifting the students. We would like to thank everyone who helped to make this project a success and we hope to continue this in the future.

By Rtr. Kumara Kassapa