Tuition classes to be banned on Sundays

BY CHAMIKARA Weerasinghe

THE government will bring in legislation to fully ban the tuition classes on Sundays with a focus to make the day dedicated for religious activities and observances.

This will replace the current Cabinet Paper, envisioned to introduce a half-a-day ban on tuition on Sundays.

Minister of Buddha Sasana, Public Security, Law and Order, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said that this move should be rightly understood as being made with the sole intention of making Sunday a dhamma or holy day for everyone. "And not as a fight against tuition classes," said Wickremanayake.

He said that people will benefit from this, and it will create a virtuous society that values morals.

Secretary, Ministry of Buddha Sasana, D.W. Abeywickrema told the Daily News that all religious leaders in the country had consented to the idea of having Sunday as a day dedicated for religious observances.

He also said that steps will be taken in the future to develop Dhamma studies. "We are considering to give away uniforms to children of Dhamma schools," he said.

"Steps will also be taken in the next three months to give teacher appointments to those who have passed the Dharmachaarya examination." They will be appointed to schools with condition that they should teach at Dhamma schools on Sundays," he added.

Abeywickrema said they had submitted a Cabinet Paper to recruit 3,000 teachers.