News
Sri Lanka to provide a morning meal for all pre-school children this year
State Minister for Women and Child Affairs, Geetha Kumarasinghe, on Thursday (11), announced the commencement of an initiative to provide a morning meal for all pre-school children this year.
The State Minister made these remarks during a press conference held at the Presidential Media Centre (PMC).
She said there are 155,000 pre-school children and that given the high prevalence of malnutrition among Sri Lankan children, the government was planning to provide a protein-rich meal.
She said 100 rupees is allocated for a meal per child.The scheme covers approximately 120,000 urban and rural and 35,000 estate-sector pre-school children.
Kumarasinghe added that plans are underway to distribute nutrition packs to 220,214 pregnant mothers.
These packs will be provided for 10 months and each pack, per month, is valued at 4500 rupees.She added there are 18,333 pre-school teachers, registered under the National Secretariat for Early Childhood Development, and they will be trained anew.
She said currently these teachers are paid 2,500 rupees a month and this stipend will be increased taking into consideration the cost of living.The State Minister added that there are also plans to propose and enact three new bills aimed at safeguarding the rights of children and women.
Among them is a Gender Equality Bill, which proposes the establishment of a Gender Equality Council, encompassing representation for the LGBTIQ community.The Council will hire Gender Focal Point officers for various government institutions, she said, adding that they will also bring laws to ensure that when a woman leaves for a foreign job, for over two years, her child must not be less than five years of age.
Steps have been initiated to collect data at the Divisional Secretariat level to ascertain the number of mothers, with children under five years, who have migrated abroad, she said.She added CCTV cameras will soon be installed in all passenger transport service buses to reduce incidents of violence against women.
The government, under heavy Opposition fire over inclusion of a sex website in the Grade 6 English module, as well as overall education reforms, has decided to put on hold reforms in respect of Grade 6.
Cabinet Spokesman and Media and Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa announced the government decision yesterday (13) at the post-Cabinet media briefing at the Information Department.
According to him, the decision had been taken at the previous day’s Cabinet meeting, chaired by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Dr. Jayatissa said that education reforms pertaining to Garde 6 had been put on hold until 2027.
The Minister said that other proposed education reforms would be implemented as planned. The Minister said that action would be taken against those responsible for the inclusion of a link to a sex website following investigations conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department and the National Education Institute.
The SJB and several other political parties, as well as civil society groups, have accused the government of promoting an LGBTQ agenda, through the proposed education reforms.
The Opposition grouping Mahajana Handa, on Monday, made representations to the Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatta Chapter regarding the controversial reforms, while urging their intervention to halt the project.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday (13) vowed to go ahead with his government’s agenda, regardless of the destruction caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Emphasising the responsibility on the part of all to contribute to the post-Ditwah recovery efforts, President Dissanayake said that he would have complete faith in the public service.
The President said so at the launch of the re-building Sri Lanka project at the BMICH yesterday.
The JVP and NPP leader said that he wouldn’t take advantage of the death and destruction caused by the cyclone or use the situation as an excuse to reverse their agenda or weaken it.
President Dissanayake said that in spite of many calling for amending the then Budget, in view of the cyclone, the government presented the proposals that were agreed before the disaster struck.
The United States has announced that it will provide the Sri Lanka Air Force with 10 US Navy TH-57 helicopters free of charge.
The announcement was made by outgoing US Ambassador Julie Chung, who stated, on social media, that the helicopters would be transferred under the United States’ Excess Defence Articles programme. The aircraft are Bell 206 Sea Ranger helicopters previously operated by the US Navy.
US sources said that the transfer was intended to strengthen Sri Lanka’s disaster response capabilities, following the devastating cyclone that struck the island at the end of 2025 and killed more than 600 people. US officials have framed the move as a humanitarian measure aimed at improving aerial rescue and relief operations.
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