THE Education Ministry in a media communique completely denied the news item in the Lankadeepa newspaper of March 8 headlined 'Reconstruction of 73 schools stalled due to non availability of lands'.

The item stated that in spite of the preparedness of a large number of local and foreign investors to reconstruct 73 schools destroyed by the tsunami, the Government was facing difficulties in finding lands for this purpose.

The Education Ministry media release explaining the situation stated that 182 schools were destroyed due to the tsunami and arrangements are under way to relocate 98 at different sites.

The search for suitable lands began in the second week of January and discussions to obtain recommendation are going on with the Provincial Education Secretaries, Divisional Education Directors, Zonal Education Directors and District Secretaries, stated the media communique.

The schools that have to be reconstructed spread over 11 Districts. Lands have been found in seven districts, where the sponsors have already initiated reconstruction in a majority of such schools. The finding of lands in the Districts of Jaffna and Mullaitivu have been finalised, it stated.

The Lands Division of the Education Ministry in collaboration with the Tsunami Devastated School Reconstruction Monitoring Unit is handling the activities connected with acquisition of lands for this purpose.

The Education Ministry warned the media to abstain from carrying false news without ascertaining facts accurately and requested the people to be cautious about misleading news reports.