Uthuru Vasanthaya:

Rs. 1,058m worth projects for displaced children’s education

Concurrent to the Uthuru Vasanthaya Northern Development Program launched by the Government to bring normality to the lives of people displaced from terrorism in the North, the Government has launched projects worth Rs. 1,058 million to provide higher education facilities to children of the displaced funded by the ADB and the World Bank.

This follows a survey which gathered information about students who have missed their higher education due to the conflict in the North, the Education Ministry said.

The Ministry said under this program, a Rs. 23 million project has been launched to restart higher education courses at the Jaffna and Vavuniya Universities while Rs. 90.33 million would be spent to put up a hostel for medical students at the Jaffna University.

Construction work on an academic and administrative building costing Rs. 609.89 million has started at the Jaffna Institute of Higher Technological Education.

Another Rs. 30 million has been set apart to improve the quality of existing courses and introduction of new courses at this Technological Institute while Rs. 14.45 million has been earmarked for improvement of its infrastructure facilities, the Ministry said.

Steps have also been taken to set up a new Institute of Higher Technology at Vavuniya costing Rs. 65 million and another Rs. 60 million had been allocated for improvement of basic facilities at the new university at Vavuniya due to be completed in 2011.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry said programs costing Rs. 576 million launched to bring about a qualitative improvement in the country’s Higher Education field would be completed before next year.