First indigenous female undergraduate

Samanthika with her mother  

By Ranjith Karunaweera   

Veddah Chief Vishva Keerthi Vanaspathi Uruwarige Wannileththo yesterday revealed for the first time that a female student of his community has been selected to a university.   
Although several male students from the Veddah community including Dambane Gunawardena who had the credit to become the first indigenous graduate in Sri Lanka, Samanthika Dissanayake is the first and only female student to be selected to a university, Wannileththo claimed.  A granddaughter of Wannileththo Samanthika who first studied in Dambana Primary School and later was admitted to Mahiyangana National School from where she sat for the GCE A/L examination.   
 Currently she is studying at the University of the Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo. 

She is the only female indigenous student to be selected to a university