Make use of education to improve skills, President tells students

P. W. Kodituwakku

WEERAKETIYA: The student generation should strive to become useful citizens by making use of education to improve their skills, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a message to mark the 2007 national school books and uniforms distribution ceremony at the Rajapaksa Maha Vidyalaya, Weeraketiya on Monday.

The message read by Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said education helped to make a complete human being. Rs. 1,400 million has been allocated for the development of education by the present budget.

Texts books are a valuable endowment made to students and they should use them carefully to improve their education, he said. President Rajapaksa said the school curriculum had been changed with the addition of new subjects to suit the modern world.

These new subjects will be introduced in the 6th and 10th grades, the President's message added. Premajayantha said Rs. 400 million is being spent to provide text books and school uniforms to the student population.

These text books are being provided to students from grades 1 to 12 under the Mahinda Chinthana, steps have been made to provide quality text books and school uniforms to students on time before December 8 this year, he said.

Multi-purpose text books will be provided only in January next year. Uniforms have already been despatched to 17 districts. Uniforms for students in the hill country and the North and East are being despatched, the Minister said.

Premajayantha said the Government is spending Rs. 2,500 million for the text books and uniform distribution exercise.

The mid-day meal programme is being implemented in 6,000 schools to provide meals to students in grades 1 and 2. Nutrition programmes have been organised in schools with a student population below 100 and it will be further extended next year. The English to the village programme has been implemented at the Tangalle Maha Vidyalaya from November 20, the Minister said.

Premajayantha said Rs. 6000 has been allocated to improve and extend facilities in Universities. Another batch of 15,000 graduates have been provided with jobs. Another 3,000 will be granted teaching appointments by the end of December. Steps have also been made to solve the teacher shortage problem in difficult areas by absorbing volunteer teachers as assistant teachers. Problems in the Education Administrative service have also been resolved.

Steps will also be taken to fill vacancies in the principals grade soon. Facilities have also been improved in 3,179 Estate schools, he said.

Premajayantha said funds amounting to three per cent of the GNP had been allocated for education this year for the first time in Sri Lanka. It is hoped to increase this to five per cent of the GNP next year.

Agricultural Development Minister Chamal Rajapaksa said work on the Hambantota Harbour would be inaugurated in March next year.

"Work on the Matara-Kataragama rail road would also be launched simultaneously. Work on the Hambantota Fisheries harbour has already been started.

The Government had received adequate foreign funding for these development programmes, he said.