8 March 2023 05:49 pm Views - 941
While completing the total of 70% of school uniform materials donated by the Chinese government, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha today accepted the remaining 40% of them at the ministry.
The final stock was donated by China's Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong at the Ministry.
On January 13, the government received 30% of the fabric, which were officially handed over to the minister by the acting Chinese Ambassador, Hu Wei.
He said the balance 40% of the school uniform materials were received, and thereby completing the 70% of the total school uniform fabric requirement for the year 2023.
Addressing the media, he said the total of 70% of school uniform materials for 4.1 million students have been unloaded and the distribution of the uniforms would begin in the next couple of days.
"We received a total volume of 8.86 million metres of school uniform fabric, with 70% as donation. The remaining 30% will be theough the Government's Treasury, thus make to total of 3.831 million meters," he said.
The first consignment of school uniform materials was distributed to remote areas including the Northern Province (Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi, and Mullaithivu), Eastern Province (Trincomalee, Batticaloa, and Ampara), Uva Province (Badulla and Moneragala), and North Central Province (Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa).
"Our target is to complete the distribution of all school uniform fabric with a variety of 23 cloth types among 4.1 million schoolchildren, including those in Pirivenas and Muslim schools, before March 24. The distribution of uniforms is handled by the cooperative sector. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)