The annual Nawam Perahera of the Hunupitiya Gangarama Temple in Colombo paraded the streets yesterday (07).
Prime Minister D.M.Jayarathne and Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa placed the sacred relics casket on the ceremonial tusker at the Navam Maha Perahera last evening.
First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, Ms. Pushpa Rajapaksa and Ms. Ioma Rajapaksa were also present at this event.
Courtesy: Government Information Department
Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena has refuted allegations made by the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe about the education policies of the government. He has said that free education will be made an eternal heritage of the poor people of this country in accordance with the pledge given in the Mahinda Chinthana.
The Minister has vehemently rejected the statement recently made by the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe that the government is preparing to curtail free education to fulfil the demands of the International Monetary Fund, and the educational sector has become submissive to political pressure.
Minister Gunawardene has said that the opposition leader has forgotten the manner the educational sector happened to be undermined during the United National Party administration period. Minister has reminded that it was during Wickremasinghe’s administration that the Z-score system was introduced to the country.
The Minister has further said that Wickremasinghe has also forgotten the struggles that occurred in Sri Lanka during the period when a white paper on education was attempted to be introduced by the UNP government.
Speaking about the ongoing educational activities, the Minister has said that in each divisional secretariat divisions three fully fledged schools will be started. The programme of establishing five thousand primary schools and one thousand secondary schools are now underway.
Meanwhile, the Minister has also said that he is prepared to have a debate relating to the educational sector with the opposition leader at any time. (niz)
Courtesy: Government Information Department
The government has allocated Rs. One Billion for installing gates at all unprotected railway crossings in the country. The General Manager of Sri Lanka Railways B.A.P. Ariyaratne said that preliminary measures have been taken to install 200 gates across the island.
There are 612 unprotected railway crossings out of a total number of 915 crossings in the country. Ariyaratne said that priority will be given to install gates along the Southern coastal line due to the high speed of trains on the track following its recent modernization.
The official has pointed out that the lack of protective gates at crossings is a hindrance to the proper operation of the trains as well as a safety hazard to the public.
Deaths of people and vehicle accidents are frequently reported at the locations of these unprotected railway crossings and people residing in these areas continuously appeal to the Railway authorities to provide them protection at these railway crossings.
Courtesy: Government Information Department
Language Associations are to be formed throughout the country to provide language proficiency to the public. Director General of the National Language Institute Prasad Herath said that around 600 such associations have already been established throughout the country.
At a seminar held in Kandy District Secretariat recently Herath said the Ministry of National Integration has implemented many projects to improve language proficiency among the public.
He pointed out that the Language Associations will be helpful to make the people competent on the National Language.
Sri Lanka has declared the year 2012 as the Trilingual year and expects to increase the proficiency of the people in all the three languages by the year 2015.
Courtesy: Government Information Department
Classifieds List
