War Hero children receive schols

Sandasen MARASINGHE

Forty children of War Heroes were granted scholarships to support their education at the Defence Ministry auditorium yesterday in appreciation of the great service rendered by their fathers to guarantee the unity and sovereignty of the motherland.

The ceremony to grant scholarships under the Ranaviru Doo Daru Scholarship Programme was held under the patronage of Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

This is the ninth stage of the Ranaviru Doo Daru Scholarship Programme under the Seva Vanitha Unit of the Defence Ministry with the objective of providing scholarships to the children of War Heroes of the three armed forces and Police who made the ultimate sacrifice or were rendered disabled. Out of the 40 children, 25 were of Army personnel while Navy, Air Force and Police had equal proportions of five recipients. The students were granted a Bank of Ceylon pass book under the name Rana Viru Doo Daru. Each student between Grade One to Five were granted Rs 20,000 while the students from Grade 6 to 8 were given Rs 30,000 each. Students in classes above Grade 9 were granted Rs 50,000 worth scholarships. These scholarships were granted for the students to continue their studies.

Defence Ministry Additional Secretary Indu Ratnayake said that in addition to this scholarship programme, the Defence Ministry Seva Vanitha Unit in association with the ministry was conducting many other welfare programmes under the direction of its chairperson Ayoma Rajapaksa. She added that the War Heroes’ families were granted houses, housing loans, three-wheelers etc to uplift their living standards.

She said that the Seva Vanitha Unit was continuing to provide all these facilities to the family members of war heroes.