Investment in education is a judicious venture - CM

Mahinda P. Liyanage - Galle Daily News Correspondent

School is a sacred place like temple. Teachers and Principals are the driving force propelling students on the correct path, said Southern Province Chief Minister Shan Wijayalal de Silva.

The Chief Minister said so at a ceremony to felicitate past teachers of Manawila Upananda Maha Vidyalaya, Akmeemana, Galle, marking the College Architect's Day.

The ceremony was held under the patronage of the Chief Minister at the college's auditorium recently.

Investment in education is a judicious venture to ensure a glorious future for the country.

Therefore, any act aimed at disrupting children's education is a sinful deed that brings irreparable damage to innocent children's expectations, he said.

Some people are planning to link schoolchildren to the proposed trade union action scheduled today launched by some trade unions with ulterior motives. Bringing schoolchildren to streets or keeping them out of school is a crime, he said.

"As such, all should denounce such destructive attempts," he added.

Even amidst constant reverberations of bomb blasts and firings during the battle against terrorists, children of the North tried to continue their studies despite various threats by the LTTE who forced children to take T56 weapons and tie cyanide capsule ribbons around their necks, he said.

Education is an in inalienable right of the child, he said.

Concurrent to the felicitation, a statue of Ven Bataduwe Siri Rathnajothi nayake thera, the architect of the school erected at the school premises was unveiled by the Chief Minister. Galle district parliamentarian Dr. Ramesh Pathirane and Principal Nimal Weerasiri also spoke.