“Literacy is the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman, and child can realize his or her full potential.” -Kofi Annan

Project Literato-Chapter 5 commenced on the 26^th of March 2023, for the 5th consecutive year is a signature initiative by the International Service Avenue of the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

As we all know, the Covid 19 pandemic and economic crisis have caused several educational challenges around the world, especially for underprivileged students. Hence, we chose to help students improve their literacy throughout this project, and we believe we were able to assist in enhancing the writing, reading, speaking, and computer literacy of underprivileged students at every phase of this project. The ultimate goal of the initiative was to support individuals in becoming positive influencers on the world, society, and themselves.

The project was conducted in three phases. In the first phase, we selected two schools with limited resources, Deepangoda Sri Medananda Maha Vidyalaya, Homagama, and Suneetha Vidyalaya-Prison College, Homagama, and donated essential books that they had requested from us by opening a book donation campaign in front of the university where both undergraduates and public were able to donate their books.

In the second phase, several International Rotaract clubs from various countries such as the Rotaract Club of Abani Bluez – RID 3281, Rotaract Club of Indore City-Young Leaders – RID 3040, Rotaract Club of College of Veterinary Science Mhow – RID 3040, Rotaract Club of Salem Gugai – RID 2982 and Rotaract Club of Nairobi Muthaiga North – RID 91406 collaborated with us to carry out this project by organizing book donation campaigns and webinars on improving the literacy of the underprivileged in those areas. We also managed to establish and maintain positive relationships with each of the participating clubs, who were eager to participate in our club’s future projects as well.

After discovering that many students in rural areas of our country lack basic computer knowledge, as the third phase of our project, we decided to conduct a computer literacy webinar via Zoom to help them enhance their knowledge of computing. By inviting a renowned personality from the IT field of Sri Lanka, we aimed to provide students with an opportunity to improve their knowledge and also let them think outside the box through this webinar.

We believe that we were able to achieve the goal of raising the literacy levels of underprivileged children both locally and globally throughout this project so that they can unlock doors to lifelong learning and overcome poverty.

We are pleased to announce that we were able to successfully conclude this project on a global scale on the 31^st of May 2023, by collaborating with International Rotaract clubs to guide and support the younger generation in developing their reading and literacy skills.

Written by: Rtr. Ruvindee Liyanage

Graphic design by: Rtr. Anujini Perera