The new MJF Primary School for the Kids of Holyrood
The week long events to mark the 80th birthday of Mr. Merrill J Fernando culminated with the ceremonial opening of the new Primary School at Holyrood Estate in Talawakelle by Mr. Merrill J Fernando on 15th May along with Malik, Dilhan and of course young Amrit. Hon. V Radahkirishnan – former Provincial Minster of Education who along with Dilhan laid the foundation stone for this school on 21st November 2009 was also present in his capacity as Member of Parliament for the Nuwara Eliya district and formally took over the keys of the school from Mr. Fernando and handed over them to the Principal of the school. This modern and spacious facility with 5 class room/cum auditorium and teachers room with adequate toilets for girls and boys will replace the existing 69 year old one room school for nearly 197 students in Grades 1 – 5. The Minister expressed his sincere thanks to the Foundation for its magnanimous donation of this school especially with a view to improve the quality of education amongst the plantation children, which amply demonstrates the true meaning of “business is a matter of human service”. The school design was done in house by the MJF CF team which was highly commended by the Minister and suggested that this design must be replicated in other government funded new primary schools in the future.
On the same day the Foundation also launched a new special English and Maths education project for 25 schools in Division 2 of Nuwara Eliya Education zone. The main objective of this project is to enhance the achievement levels at the GCE O/L examination in Maths and English. Nearly 6000 students in Grades 6 – 10 from the selected 25 schools inclusive of 1050 students who will be sitting the GCE O/L exam in December 2010 will be benefited from this project, which is supported by Noramix Group of Norway – a close associate and distributor of Dilmah tea in Norway.
