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President’s Fund initiates two new Scholarship Programs
As per the instructions of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the President’s Fund has initiated two additional scholarship programs alongside the on-going scholarship initiatives.
These scholarships will be extended to monks, nuns, and lay students enrolled in Piriven and Seelamatha Educational Institutions, as well as those pursuing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at G.C.E. (Advanced Level), effective from May 2024.
The scholarship distribution will cover all 822 Piriven and Seelamatha Educational Institutions across the country. A total of 06 scholarships will be granted to each institution. The selection of scholarship recipients from the respective departments/Seelamatha Educational Institutions will be the responsibility of the Parivenadhipathi Thero/Institution Director.
Scholarships will be granted in two categories, with an anticipated 5000 scholarships set aside for lay scholars. Under the first category, scholarships will amount to Rs. 3000 per month for 12 months, beginning in May 2024. The second category will offer scholarships at Rs. 6000 per month for a duration of 24 months.
Further details and the application form will be made available on the official website of the President’s Fund, www.presidentsfund.gov.lk, as well as on the official Facebook page, www.facebook.com/president.fund. Additionally, the application and instructions will be published in the Government Gazette on 10th May 2024.
Candidates interested in this scholarship program must submit duly completed application forms to the Parivenadhipathi/Head of Institute by 22nd May 2024. The selected scholarship recipients’ names, chosen by the Parivenadhipathi/Head of Institution, will be forwarded to the Director of (Piriwen) at the Ministry of Education via the Regional Assistant Director of Education (Piriwen).
Under the guidance of the President, a scholarship program has commenced with operational backing from the President’s Fund, utilizing funds provided by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka for the students who are following Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a subject for G.C.E. (Advanced Level) Examination.
This scholarship program aims to cover all education zones across the country, with a minimum provision of 50 scholarships per zone. Eligible students will receive a monthly scholarship of Rs. 6000 for up to 24 months starting from May 2024 until they sit for the G.E.C (Advanced Level) Examination.
For information on qualifications and application details, applicants can refer to the official Facebook account of the President’s Fund (www.facebook.com/president.fund ) and the website www.presidentsfund.gov.lk. Additionally, details will be available on the official website of the Ministry of Education: www.moe.gov.lk.
Information regarding this initiative has also been posted on the official website of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.
Eligible students interested in applying for these scholarships are required to submit their completed applications directly to the President’s Fund via registered post by 22nd May 2024. Furthermore, the application form and instructions are scheduled to be published in the Government Gazette on 10th May 2024.
In line with the President’s manifesto presented to Parliament on 07th February 2024, the President’s Fund has initiated several scholarship programs for school students in 2024, which are presently underway and progressing smoothly.
The scholarship program to support the students with financial difficulties, who have passed G.C.E. (Ordinary Level) Examination in the academic year 2022/2023, was initiated in the 100 education zones across the country while selecting 60 students from each educational zone. This program offers a monthly scholarship of Rs. 6000 to aid students until they sit for the GCE (Advanced Level) Examination.
Currently, 6000 scholarship recipients have been selected under this program, and their details have been published on the official Facebook page and website of the President’s Fund. The disbursement of scholarships to these recipients is scheduled to commence from April 2024, along with the clearance of any pending arrears.
In the meantime, the President’s Fund has launched a scholarship initiative targeting 100,000 students in grades 1 to 11 facing financial difficulties in accessing education. Covering all 10,126 schools in the country, the program aims to distribute scholarships of Rs.3, 000 per month to eligible students. Each school is set to receive a minimum of 04 scholarships and a maximum of 22 scholarships. Presently, the selection process for these scholarships is in progress, with the distribution scheduled to take place soon.
At present, the President’s Fund is collecting information on scholarship applicants from the zonal education offices. Once all necessary details are computerized, the scholarship distribution process will commence, with funds directly deposited into individual bank accounts on a monthly basis. Recipients will receive confirmation via SMS upon receiving the scholarship.
(PMD)
Without their captain, and down to 12 available players, Australia overcame what could have been an awkward start to their T20 World Cup campaign with an impressive all-round display as they downed Ireland by 67 runs in Colombo in a performance that showed their batting is not all about blasting sixes.
It was a dramatic build-up to the game for Australia – the last team to start the tournament – when it was announced 15 minutes before the toss that captain Mitchell Marsh was unavailable due to a testicular injury caused when he was struck in the groin while batting earlier in the week.
Travis Head, therefore, captained Australia and because of the decision to give Tim David an extra couple of days in his recovery from a hamstring injury, and no replacement for Josh Hazlewood having yet been named, it did not leave much for the selectors to choose from.
When Head was run out in the second over there was a chance it could have become a very tricky outing, but a stand of 49 between Josh Inglis and Cameron Green settled things then Matt Renshaw, who was a late addition to the squad, and Marcus Stoinis played excellently in a partnership of 61 off 44 balls to build a total of 182 on a tough, slow, gripping surface.
It was well out of reach for Ireland, who had hoped some familiarity with conditions may help after facing Sri Lanka at the same ground, but they folded for 115. They suffered a huge blow when Pul Stirling retired hurt first ball after hobbling through for a single and the top order was picked apart by Nathan Ellis.
Head was given a life in the first over when he cut Matthew Humphreys to backward point where Ben Calitz put down a low chance. Ireland had dropped seven chances against Sri Lanka and it was an ominous start. However, this one did not cost them as a horrid mix-up led to Head being run out. It added to a sense of unease around Australia, but that didn’t last for long.
Inglis and Green took the attack during the fielding restrictions and Australia were quickly scoring above ten an over. The duo struck a six apiece in the fifth over against Mark Adair – although Inglis’ was nearly a parried boundary catch by Gareth Delany who had just touched the rope with his foot – before Green picked out midwicket.
Inglis followed the over after the powerplay, driving George Dockrell to cover, but the early flurry of boundaries had earnt Australia the ability not to have to force things too hard. Still, with Glenn Maxwell’s lean run continuing when as he edged Harry Tector behind – Lorcan Tucker taking a sharp catch – Australia were 88 for 4 in the tenth over and, with an out-of-form Cooper Connolly then the bowlers to come, a vital stand loomed.
Renshaw’s elevation to the squad in place of Matt Short had been with these exact conditions in mind. He and Stoinis, not a batter often associated with working the ball around, quickly assessed it was not a surface on which to blast the side out of a tricky situation. They tried to keep dot balls to a minimum and ran hard: Australia tallied 22 twos for the innings.
Renshaw waited 28 balls to find the boundary when he drove Dockrell through the covers. Stoinis had found the rope twice in three balls against Tector in the 12th over, but they were a rare breed. It wasn’t until the 18th over, when pace was back in the attack, that the ball cleared the rope again when Stoinis launched Adair over deep midwicket. Three balls earlier, Stoinis had been dropped by Delany in the covers. Adair did remove Stoinis with a low full toss, but Australia were able to cross 180
Ireland needed to replicate Australia’s powerplay burst but instead had to watch their captain limp back to the dugout after the first ball of the innings. He jabbed a full delivery from Xavier Bartlett to the on side and a couple of steps after setting off was in clear pain, barely able to make it to the other end. Ross Adair was dropped by Renshaw, a simple chance at point, in the second over, but Harry Tector lofted Matt Kuhnemann into the deep where the catch was safely held by Green.
Then Ellis, who is the senior member of Australia’s remaining pace attack, showed his bag of tricks. His first delivery was a back-of-the-hand slower ball which completely bamboozled Ross Adair who played all round it and lost middle stump. It was pace-bowling deception at its best.
Two balls later, Curtis Campher pulled to midwicket and the wheels were coming off. At the start of Ellis’ next over, Calitz dragged into leg stump and inside the powerplay his figures red 2-1-5-3. Adam Zampa then did his job, working through the middle and lower order with four wickets, but fittingly it was Ellis who ended the match to finish with a career-best haul.
Brief scores:
Australia 182 for 6 in 20 overs (Marcus Stoinis 45, Jos Inglis 37,Cameron Green 21, Matt Renshaw 37, Cooper Conolly 11*, Xavier Bartlett 11*; Mathew Humphreys 1-33, Mark Adair 2-44, George Dockrell 1-31, Harry Tector 1-24 ) beat Ireland 115 in 16.5 overs (Ross Adair 12, Lorcan Tucker 24, Gareth Delany 11, George Dockrell 41, Mark Adair 12; Maththew Khunemann 1-29, Nathan Ellis 4-12, Adam Zampa 4-23) by 67 runs
[Cricinfo]
South Africa survived the T20 World Cup’s group of death by outlasting Afghanistan in a match that went into two Super Overs.
They had it won when the last over of regulation time began with Afghanistan needing 13 with one wicket in hand. Kagiso Rabada, though, bowled two no-balls, but a running error allowed them to tie the match. South Africa were then done and dusted but Tristan Stubbs hit a last-ball six to force a second Super Over. This one left Afghanistan needing four sixes off four balls; Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who scored 84 off 42 in regulation time, hit three of them, needed just a four to take it to the third Super Over after Keshav Maharaj bowled a wide, but hit straight to point.
A couple of metres either side, and Afghanistan would have had another shot at beating South Africa in a T20I for the first time. Losing semi-finalists last edition, now they are left needing more than just wins against UAE and Canada to make it out of the first round.
Allowed no soft launch by the draw, having lost the first match against New Zealand, Afghanistan came into this must-win encounter spin-heavy on a pitch with some grip. Quinton de Kock and Ryan Rickelton, though, scored twin half-centuries to give their taller bowlers with canny changes of pace just enough – it seemed – to defend despite an outlier effort by Gurbaz. However, Rabada and Marco Jansen made closing errors against the No. 10 Noor Ahmad. With two needed off the last three balls – first of those a free hit – the last pair took an improbable second to give South Africa a lifeline and the T20 World Cup its first double Super Over.
The skilled left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi who would later make the error to cause the tie, got off to a superb start, swinging the ball each way and taking out Aiden Markram with a slower ball to expose two left-hand batters to offspinners. The shapes Rickelton’s body makes when playing shots can often be similar to de Kock’s, and he has for long been the natural heir. At times, South Africa have found it difficult to accommodate both in the same XI. They will be thankful they had these two here.
It was de Kock – only 6.94 per over against spin so far in his T20 career – who broke the shackles after a start of 12 for 1 in four overs. Whatever de Kock did, though, Rickelton did with more brute force. Left-arm wristspinner Noor, brought in this match as the only change, bore the biggest brunt of it. De Kock welcomed him with a six over long-on first ball, and two balls later Rickelton hit an even bigger one.
The duo even got to their fifties in the same over: the 11th, bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Rickelton took only 23 balls, de Kock 34, but it was de Kock who had taken on spin early on.
Taken down for 21 runs in his first two overs, captain Rashid Khan started the comeback for Afghanistan with the wickets of Rickelton and de Kock in the same over to reach 699 T20 wickets. The duo added 114 in 10.1 overs to take South Africa to 126 in the 13th over, but now began a new game. Afghanistan offered batters little pace, and only a couple of big blows from Jansen in the end took them to 187. That was just 63 runs off the last 7.3 overs.
Brief scores:
South Africa 187 for 6 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 61, Quinton de Kock 59, Dewald Brevis 23, David Miller 20*, Marco Jansen 16; Fazalhaq Farooki 1-32, Azmatullah Omarzai 3-41, Rashid Khan 2-28) beat Afghanistan 187 in 19.4 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 84, Ibrahim Zadran 12, Daewish Rasooli 15, Azmatullah Omarzai 22, Rashid Khan 20, Noor Ahmed 15*; Lungi Ngidi 3-26. Marco Jansen 1-42, Kagiso Rabada 1-38, George Linde 1-39, Keshav Maharaj 1-27) in the Super Over
Afghanistan [Super Over 1] 17/0 [Azmatullah Omarzai 16*, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 01*]
South Africa [Super Over 1] 17/1 [David Miller 01*, Dewald Brewis 06, Tristan Stubbs 10*; Fazalhaq Farooqi 1-17]
South Africa [Super Over 2] 23/0, [Tristan Stubbs 07*, David Miller 16*]
Afghanistan [Super Over 2] 19/2 [Mohammed Nabi 00, Azmatullah Omarzai 00*, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 18; Keshav Maharaj 2-19]
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