For four decades, NDB Bank has been a catalyst in assisting Sri Lankans around the island towards success. Moving from economic growth to sustainable development, the Bank commenced many long term initiatives to empower future generations. Therefore Education is one of the key strategic focal points around which the Bank has structured its sustainability activities.
English is the most widely used language around the world and has become the gateway to opportunity and success. Communication is key to virtually every aspect of ‘business’, with effective communication with customers, employees, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders essential to the success of a business. Therefore proficiency in English offers a key competitive advantage in a difficult employment environment. Furthermore, research shows a direct correlation between the English skills of a population and the economic performance of the country.
Thus, identifying a necessary requirement to improve proficiency in the English Language within young professionals, as well as the future generations, NDB implemented the “English for Teaching Plus [EfT+] Project”. This initiative which commenced seven years ago in 2009 is continued to this date in key regions of the country.
Having commenced the initiative for students, the Bank later focused on enhancing the English knowledge and methodology of Secondary School English Teachers with a view to implementing a more sustainable project which will have an impact for years to come. This proved to be very successful, providing teachers with access to the best resources and latest approaches to English language teaching and learning.
Conducted in partnership with the British Council, Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Education and the Regional English Support Centres (RESCs) island-wide, this project has helped train over 1,000 Secondary School English Teachers in over 770 schools islandwide, benefitting over 170,000 students and many more in the future.
The overall objective is to improve the standard of English and English teaching in Sri Lanka. Hence the key aim was to provide high quality English language teaching to improve the levels of English teaching and learning in Sri Lanka with the ultimate goal of raising the employment profile of school leavers joining the workforce.
The project addresses two aspects; Language Improvement and Teaching Ability, empowering the teachers to provide a higher quality education whilst delivering the subject matter in unique ways. The highlight of the project is the activity based training with new & innovative training methods to equip teachers to teach as well as manage their students in a more holistic manner.
In 2019 the project was further enhanced by incorporating 21st Century Skills which are the six core skills now recognized as essential for preparing young people to live and work in the globalised 21st century economy. They are: critical thinking and problem solving; citizenship; collaboration and communication; digital literacy; creativity and imagination; student
NDB Bank, which is the first and to date the only corporate in Sri Lanka to officially be certified with EDGE Certification is a premier retail Bank with over 111 branches across the island, serving millions of Sri Lankans through a host of financial services. From its inception, the NDB Group which includes NDB Bank, NDB Capital, NDB Investment Banking, NDB Wealth, and NDB Securities has been a catalyst in the development of the nation, strengthening and empowering entrepreneurs, corporates and individuals from all strata of the economy. Customers across all group companies have benefited from the product and service offerings of the NDB Group.