Kagama Yaya 9 Maha Vidyalaya Becomes Sri Lanka’s First School to Reach the Zayed Sustainability Prize Finals

Kagama Yaya 9 Maha Vidyalaya Becomes Sri Lanka’s First School to Reach the Zayed Sustainability Prize Finals

AI-generated illustration of the school’s proposed sustainability project. A photograph of the school itself was not available for embedding.

A rural state school in Sri Lanka’s North Central Province has reached the global finals of a major sustainability award, marking a notable achievement for its students, teachers and surrounding community.

A/Kagama Yaya 9 Maha Vidyalaya, in Thalawa within the Thambuththegama Education Zone, has been selected as a finalist in the Global High Schools category of the Zayed Sustainability Prize 2027. According to the Sunday Times, it is the first school in Sri Lanka to reach this stage.

The school’s proposal brings together renewable energy, water purification and small-scale agriculture in response to practical challenges experienced locally. Its selection offers recognition not only for the project, but also for the students’ work in developing a solution grounded in the needs of their community.

A global award for practical solutions

Hosted by the United Arab Emirates, the Zayed Sustainability Prize is an annual award recognising and supporting innovative initiatives intended to address sustainability challenges and improve people’s lives. Its awards ceremony takes place during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, which brings together world leaders, policymakers, industry experts and young changemakers to consider and celebrate sustainable initiatives.

The 2027 finalists were selected from an unprecedented 10,233 submissions spanning 177 countries. Kagama Yaya 9 is one of three finalists representing South Asia, alongside Motithang Higher Secondary School in Thimphu, Bhutan, and Shree Saraswati Secondary School in Nepal.

The Global High Schools category recognises student-led ideas addressing environmental, energy, food, water and health challenges in schools and their communities. Six winning schools are selected each year, one for each of the prize’s regions: the Americas; Sub-Saharan Africa; the Middle East and North Africa; Europe and Central Asia; South Asia; and East Asia and the Pacific. Each winning school receives up to US$150,000 to implement its proposed project.

The selection as a finalist is itself a significant milestone. The winners are due to be announced at the awards ceremony on 12 January 2027; Kagama Yaya 9 has not yet won the prize.

Principal Ashoka Karunarathna. Photograph published by the Sunday Times.

A project shaped by local needs

The school’s proposal combines three connected elements: renewable electricity, access to cleaner water and productive use of space for growing plants.

Solar panels would be installed on the rooftops of school buildings. A water purification system would make use of rainwater collected in storage tanks during the early months of the year, when water is more readily available, up to August. The project also proposes growing agricultural plants along the school buildings’ bare walls, creating an opportunity to harvest produce and sell it to the local community.

The concept responds to conditions described by science teacher Asanka Pushpakumara, who told the Sunday Times that the team was motivated by challenges facing residents in the area.

“Our area has been struggling with water shortages, particularly from August until the end of the year. Many people in the community also suffer from kidney-related illnesses, and concerns about the quality of drinking water have been serious issues for a long time,” he said.

His account places the proposal within a wider local context. Seasonal water shortages and long-standing concern about drinking-water quality make reliable, practical water solutions especially relevant. The proposed use of rainwater storage and purification is intended to address those concerns, while solar energy and the cultivation of plants extend the project’s potential contribution to the school and community.

The agriculture component is also designed to make productive use of available school infrastructure. Growing plants on otherwise bare walls could provide a model of how limited space may support food production, while sales to community members could create an income stream for the school.

The Sunday Times reported that the school is located in an area affected by water shortages.

Five students take on a science-based challenge

Developing the project required students and staff to work across subject areas. Kagama Yaya 9 does not offer Advanced Level classes in the science stream, which made it more challenging to find students interested in preparing a science-based sustainability proposal.

With the school’s support, five interested students from other Advanced Level streams were selected to participate. They worked under Mr Pushpakumara’s guidance and supervision to develop a proposal addressing local water concerns as well as challenges relating to electricity supply and agriculture.

The experience demonstrates how meaningful project-based learning can extend beyond a single subject stream. It also shows how students can contribute to identifying community needs and exploring practical responses, when teachers and school leadership provide support and direction.

Two of the five students and their teacher have been invited to attend the awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Their participation will give the team an opportunity to represent their school and South Asia among an international group of students working on sustainability challenges.

A historic moment for the school

Principal Ashoka Karunarathna described the finalist selection as a historic moment for Kagama Yaya 9.

“Being among the three finalists for this prestigious global award is a great achievement, and as far as we know, it is the first time a Sri Lankan school has reached this stage,” he told the Sunday Times.

The school first learned about the award through a notice published by the Department of Education. The opportunity that followed has now placed a state school from a rural farming area on an international platform.

The Sunday Times described the school’s finalist selection as a historic moment.

Established in 1954, Kagama Yaya 9 Maha Vidyalaya was founded in a farming settlement developed under the agricultural colonisation programme introduced by former Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake. Today, it serves nearly 500 students.

The school’s history connects its present achievement with the development of rural education and farming communities in Sri Lanka. Its finalist place also highlights the potential for schools beyond major urban centres to develop ideas with international relevance.

Encouragement for students and schools across Sri Lanka

The project’s importance lies both in its proposed measures and in the process through which they were developed. Students began with problems identified in their own community and worked with a teacher to consider how energy, water and agriculture could be addressed together. That practical approach offers encouragement to learners and educators across the country.

For Sri Lankan families at home and abroad, the achievement is a welcome education story: a rural school has been recognised among a highly competitive international field, and its students will represent their community at an important global event. The result also points to the value of sharing local knowledge and supporting young people as they develop solutions suited to the places where they live.

The award outcome remains to be decided. On 12 January 2027, during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, six schools, one from each global region, will be named winners and receive funding of up to US$150,000 to put their proposals into practice. Whatever the final result, Kagama Yaya 9 Maha Vidyalaya has already achieved a distinction for Sri Lanka by reaching the finals.

Source: Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. “Water project puts state school in line for milestone global award”

This article was written based on the source https://www.sundaytimes.lk/261011/news/water-project-puts-state-school-in-line-for-milestone-global-award-660509.html, kindly email us at info@eLanka.com.au if any information needs to be corrected.

eLanka Disclaimer

Content published on eLanka may be created by the eLanka team, submitted by contributors or third parties, reproduced or adapted from other sources with appropriate source acknowledgement, or provided as promotional/advertising material by our clients. While eLanka takes reasonable care in preparing and publishing content, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Views expressed are those of the respective authors or contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of eLanka. Third-party contributors, content providers and advertisers are responsible for the accuracy of material they supply and for ensuring they hold the necessary rights and permissions for its publication. Advertising and promotional content should not be regarded as an endorsement by eLanka of any product, service or claim.