Tokyo Cement Group is paying a monthly education allowance to 79 children in the Kandy and Badulla districts who lost one or both parents to Cyclone Ditwah, Hiru News reported.
Each child receives Rs. 5,000 a month for three years, with payments backdated to a July 2026 start. All 79 are under 18 — 48 in Kandy and 31 in Badulla. Over the full three years, the commitment amounts to Rs. 180,000 per child, or roughly Rs. 14.2 million in total.
The company said it identified the children in response to the government’s call for charitable organisations and corporate entities to assist cyclone-affected communities.
How the payments are made
The children are living with close family members, and their welfare is overseen by the respective District Secretariats and child protection authorities. Tokyo Cement is working through the Kandy and Badulla District Secretariats to transfer the allowances directly into the bank accounts of the guardians responsible for each child.
Events marking the start of the scheme were held recently at both district secretariats. The Kandy event was attended by District Secretary Indika Udawatta and child protection officials. The Badulla event was attended by Administrative Officer Poornima Basnayake and Child Rights Promotion Officer Renuka, with Salinda Kandapola, Corporate Sustainability Manager, and Manjula Piyasena, Project Coordinator, representing Tokyo Cement.
Context: a recovery still running ten months on
Cyclone Ditwah made landfall on 27 November 2025 and affected all 25 districts. International humanitarian reporting on the response continued into April 2026, and government relief payments for Ditwah-affected households have run alongside Samurdhi and Aswesuma transfers through 2026.
A scheme beginning in July 2026 and announced in October is a long-tail recovery measure, not emergency relief — it addresses the loss of a household’s earner rather than immediate shelter or food needs.
Not reported
The report does not say how the 79 children were identified from a far larger affected population, whether Rs. 5,000 a month is benchmarked against any state allowance for cyclone-orphaned children, what happens to the children when the three years end, or why the announcement came three months after payments began. It also does not state the total cost to the company; the figure above is calculated from the per-child amount.
LankaNewz found no other verified newsroom reporting this initiative at the time of publication.
