Textbooks distribution ceremony today:

Over Rs 3,000 m allocated

Dharma SRI ABEYRATNE

The countrywide school textbooks distribution program will commence today at Orishill Vivekananda Vidyalaya, Trincomalee with the participation of Education Minster Bandula Gunawardena.

The government has allocated Rs 3,000 million for providing 4.4 million of schoolchildren with 36 million textbooks for the 2011 academic year. The Education Publications Department of the Education Ministry has targeted to hand over a set of text books to every student prior to the commencement of the schools vacation on Friday December 10, Education Publications Commissioner N M J Pushpakumara said.

According to data furnished by provincial education officials, all required amount of textbooks for 2011 have been already dispatched to provincial distribution centres.

"Normally the Education Publications Department concentrates highly on the deadlines since textbooks have to be in students' hands on time", Pushpakumara noted. Meanwhile the Education Publications Department has taken several measures to increase the quality of school textbooks.

The Education Sector Development Project of World Bank is also assisting the quality improving program, the commissioner added.