Piku Pihi Grade Five Scholarship 2025 – Dreams Taking Flight
When the Grade Five Scholarship results are released, most people check the scores for one or two students. For us, however, the Piku Pihi team, we had a host of schools to check. After much effort, we managed to gather the results from our network of schools.
Piku Pihi is involved with 145 schools, but our meal program is currently active in 55 of the schools where the scholarship examination was held. Everyone associated with Piku Pihi—not just me—was waiting with bated breath for the results of these 55 schools. We were all eager to see how our children had fared, especially because of the various programs we had implemented for them: three and a half years of providing lunch, conducting several scholarship seminars, offering facilities for online learning, sending sets of scholarship past papers to the schools, and providing essentials like books, shoes, and uniforms.
Who are “we”? We are the team at Piku Pihi.
This year, 600 of our students sat for the Grade Five Scholarship Examination. (Unfortunately, three students from one school couldn’t sit the exam, and three schools didn’t have Grade Five students to prepare for the scholarship.) Out of those who sat, 89 students successfully crossed the cut-off mark.
We extend our warmest congratulations to them!
These 89 children are the ones who were most in need of this success. For them, this scholarship is an absolute necessity. It is the key to fulfilling a dream, the only qualification that allows them to leave their village school and attend a major college in town. Leaving the village is often their only opportunity to truly see the world. I say this because village schools often suffer from a shortage of teachers and facilities, with some subjects lacking a teacher altogether. In contrast, town schools are well-staffed. We can’t change that reality.
On the night the results were released, I received calls from teachers in these schools as late as 11:30 PM, waking me up. I am humbly happy to be the first group they thought of when they wanted to share their results.
“Madam, one of my children is going to Royal College!” A teacher from Kadaanekutunuwewa called me late at night, even before the school selection results were out.
Until now, I hadn’t fully grasped the impact of a child passing the exam on a school’s reputation. With these results, some principals are thrilled to suddenly regain a reputation they felt had been slowly eroding over the past fifteen years.
“We just stood by and watched our village children pass our school to go to a faraway school. That’s why we only have fifteen students now. The student numbers will increase soon.”
“If that child takes Science or Maths, the entire family will be set.”
“Even if they take Arts, they could become a District Secretary!”
On the day the results were announced, they had already elevated the child to a District Secretary, uplifted the family, and brought fame to the school!
We have many reasons to celebrate this year’s Grade Five Scholarship results.
Last year, when we held an awards ceremony for the students who passed, we told them, “You filled the hall with about sixty students this time; next time, you must definitely fill it with more.”
This time, 89 children from the schools we support have passed the scholarship. And this success didn’t come from tuition classes. These children passed because of the dedication of the teachers in schools like Alikata, who taught them tirelessly, day in and day out, even having to chase away wild elephants!
I must share a few of the most heartwarming results with you:
• 
This year, three out of four students from Wembulwewa passed the cut-off.
• A child from one of our schools is going to Royal College! You may wonder if that’s a big deal, but the school in Kadaanekutunuwewa has managed to produce a student capable of gaining entry to one of the country’s top schools.
• The next most exciting result is from Mahadiwulwewa School. Ten students sat for the exam, and five passed above the cut-off mark! Three of them qualified for Kekirawa Central College. Their pass rate for the cut-off score is 50%, and the overall pass rate is 100%.
• Another heartwarming result comes from Ulpathgama School. For the first time, a child from this school has passed the exam.
• Additionally, two out of four passed at Aliyawetunuwewa, two at Kunchuttu, and some at Nelumkanniya…
I am truly delighted.
89 of these children will enter a ‘Maha Vidyalaya’ (Big College). Many of them face severe economic hardships.
We have 17 students with the highest scores who are definitely eligible for a town school.
“But will they go, I wonder…”
“Why?”
“The Sisusariya bus fare alone costs LKR 3,500 per month.”
“But they get a scholarship allowance, right?”
“Yes, LKR 1,500!”
Meanwhile, a program is in place to support the most deserving children. We received applications from 55 children who passed the cut-off and needed assistance to proceed. We are ready to enroll them in a scholarship scheme that will support them until they complete their G.C.E. Ordinary Level exams. We have been in the process of selecting the most deserving children from these applications. The next task is the most difficult.
We invite those of you who are willing to support these children, spending LKR 2,000 per child per month, to join the Piku Pihi scholarship scheme. We humbly request only those who wish to help to join the link below. We will then inform them about the process within that group.
Some of these children may receive the government’s scholarship allowance. In our time, it was LKR 500, and until June 2025, it was LKR 750. You decide if LKR 750 per month is enough to fund a major journey. This time, the government has budgeted LKR 1,500 per month for this batch, which is commendable.
We already have three groups of fifty Grade Five students each (2022, 2023, and 2024 batches) who are being supported by sponsors. We have been looking after them for several years, nurturing their dreams and paving the way for them to achieve those dreams.
Now it’s your turn.
I am sharing this message with everyone who has repeatedly inquired about this in my inbox.
Join us via this link. We are looking to clear the path for the dreams of the little ones who passed the exam and need help to move from their village to a larger school. We know other children also dream of such success.
However, Piku Pihi is not a whole country. Our effort is focused on helping 55 children from a few small Grade Five schools that are on the verge of fading away. Seeing this effort will hopefully give courage to the three students who were absent from the exam, lacking hope for the future.
So, here is the link for you.
I will share more details once you join. I kindly request that those who are not willing to help refrain from joining.
https://chat.whatsapp.com/Lq3PASbNr7J1Bg5cWPXUT1?mode=wwc
I always post this below picture. I took it when I visited a remote school. Look at it again to understand the magnitude of the change that is needed. You can tell the car doesn’t belong to them…
Piku Pihi means a Pirunu Kusak – Pirunu Hisak (a full stomach – a full head).
We hope our path is clear to you…
Thank you to:
1. Salika Jayasundara Akka for finding all the information.
2. Gaya Kariyawasam, Wathsala Jayasundara, and Ananda Nalaka Hettiarachchi for examining the applications and selecting the deserving children.
3. @sahan for taking charge of this scholarship coordination.
4. All of you…
