The present government has allocated the largest amount of funds for free education and health compared with previous governments, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pointed out yesterday.
The government has also been able to provide adequate physical and human resources to ensure that the education system, previously limited to a selected few, is now accessible to all on an equal footing, the Prime Minister argued, addressing the gathering at the inaugural ceremony of commissioning 500 school buildings throughout the country under the ‘Nearest School, the Best School’ programme. At this ceremony, the PM commissioned the Shishyoda National Resources and Information Centre for school children with special needs at Weniwelkola in Kahatuduwa, yesterday.
The government had invested Rs. 10,000 million on the 500 school building commissioned yesterday under the ‘Nearest School the Best School’ Programme, he said. The Shishyoda Special and Integrated Education National Institute is providing these ‘Shishyoda’ centres to the country’s education system in order to ensure equal education opportunities to all children. The government spent Rs. 360 million on this programme alone, Wickremesinghe said.
The Prime Minister declared open a two-storeyed administrations and evaluation building and auditorium, a three- storeyed smart classroom building and, the lecture hall built at the centre. Thereafter, he went around the centre on an inspection tour.
The Prime Minister also observed children undergoing water therapy at a special swimming pool built at the centre to provide illuminating water therapy to children with neuro problems.
The school also is equipped with a hostel to accommodate 100 children.
(Daily News)