After 28 years:
Textbooks to Jaffna via A9
One million sent:
Dharma SRI ABEYRATNE
The Education Ministry yesterday sent one million school textbooks
worth Rs. 108 million to Jaffna via A9 after 28 years.
As a result of the Government’s humanitarian mission, the A9 road can
now be used for textbooks transportation to the North and East.
Accordingly, another stock of 200,000 textbooks for 2010 will be sent to
Jaffna using the A9 road.
Earlier, the Education Ministry had to get assistance of the Sri
Lanka Navy for transporting textbooks to Jaffna incurring great
expenditure. “Naval transportation took much time. It took more than one
month to transport the books. As a result of the peaceful situation in
the country, the ground route can now be used for textbooks
transportation,” the Education Minister Susil Premajayanth said.
The Minister further pointed out that this is a significant event as
this is the first time that textbooks were being transported by road
after 28 years. The Government spends Rs. 3,000 million on printing and
transportation of school textbooks for 2010.
The Education Publications Department is engaged in printing and
distributing school textbooks. The Education Publication Department has
already distributed 12 million textbooks throughout the country.
“The Department has planned to complete the distribution process by
December 7, especially before the last day of the third school term when
the textbooks will have to be handed over to school children,” the
Educations Publications Commissioner W.M.N.J. Pushpakumara said.
These textbooks will be handed over initially to the Education
authorities in Jaffna today and they will make arrangements for a smooth
distribution process among schools in Jaffna in time.
|