Special fund for artistes in NCP

Nimal Wijesinghe Anuradhapura Additional district group correspondent

I have planned to set up a fund to assist and upgrade the artistes in North Central Province to the national and international levels and also pass the statute in support of such aesthetic development programs, said the NCP Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake.

He was addressing a gathering of parents, teachers and students of Budugehinna Maha Vidyalaya after opening the newly constructed aesthetic studies centre of the school. A sum of Rs. 3 million from the Asian Development Bank funds have been allocated for the project.

The Chief Minister said that the North Central Provincial Council would embark on a mission to preserve the folk poetry, folk tales, folk music, folk dances and the folk-lore hereditary in the NCP and to empower the livelihood of such folk artistes.

Their skills would be recorded through SLBC's Rajarata F.M. to be preserved for future generations. He said the motto for education of the North Central Province is that "there is no future without education". We have taken remedial measures to avoid the dearth of teachers in the Province and have been appointing more aesthetic teachers to rural schools under this program.

Our intention is to elevate the educational level of all 773 schools located in the province so that educated patriotic and skilful citizens to take up the leadership of the province would be moulded.