'Resources should be utilized to improve literacy'

Sandasen MARASINGHE and Disna MUDALIGE

Physical resources and other materials made available for children should not be kept idle but well utilized to improve the literacy, Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody said.

Addressing a ceremony at the Parliament Complex to mark the International Literacy Day, he observed that books and other resources distributed among children by the government and various organizations aiming to improve the literacy need to be exploited over and over again throughout the year without restricting only to Literacy Day.

The ceremony was organized by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, Education Ministry and National Languages and Social Integration Ministry with the cooperation of the Speaker. Schoolchildren representing Sinhala and Tamil schools from Moneragala, Puttalam and Hatton districts participated in the ceremony. Schoolchildren and media personnel were distributed gift packs of books sponsored by Room to Read organization to mark the event.

The Deputy Speaker also observed that counting the number of graduates in a country has been emerging in the world as a new measurement of literacy surpassing other traditional measurements. He noted that national education policies are being amended to suit the emerging requirements.

He said that the government aims to improve computer literacy up to 60 percent in the near future while achieving 100 percent literacy rate by 2015 which is now 90.8 percent.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sumedha G Jayasena noted the value of literacy in the three main languages-Sinhala, Tamil and English to enhance social integration and brotherhood among various communities of the country.

Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Kitulgoda, Deputy Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake, National Institute of Education former Director S O Fernando also participated.