Language skills create understanding -PM

"Giving Strength and power to the public is one of the primary responsibilities of a people friendly government" Prime Minister D M Jayaratne said at a ceremony held yesterday to hand over English Education Equipment to 207 selected schools in the Central Province. First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa was the chief guest on the occasion.

The government spent Rs 62 million for the equipment through a community service programme conducted by the D M Jayaratne Foundation under the direction of the Presidential Education Task Force.

The Prime Minister said that the present government has started a number of development projects to equip the people with the necessary skills to empower and strengthen them. He said that "all of us who live on this island must learn to speak Sinhala, Tamil and English. That is how we can understand the way of life, the culture and morality of one another."

As a country we don't want to live in isolation. An isolated country has no future. The Prime Minister said that we need language skills for that.

Through English, greater knowledge on many subjects can be gained. The D M Jayaratne Foundation conducts a number of social service projects; including the presenting of prizes to students in the Central Province who excelled at the Grade 5 scholarship exam, assistance to students from low income families, providing equipment to pre-schools, funding to low income families for self employment and assisting the elderly in the province.