Textbooks distribution proceeding smoothly

Dharma Sri ABEYRATNE

The Ministry of Education has taken initiatives to complete the school text books distribution process before the end of the third school term, the Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha said yesterday.

The Minister said so when participating in the official event of school text book distribution process. The Minister officially started the first phase of school text books distribution process by loading a vehicle with a set of textbooks which were to be sent to Ananda College, Colombo.

Accordingly, the Education Ministry would distribute 354 book titles among 4,100,000 school children in 9,168 Government school. The Education Ministry has almost completed 50 per cent of the printing process of text books while the rest are being printed.

The Government has spent Rs. 2,700 million for the printing and distribution process. Under the first phase of the text books distribution process the Ministry would send 150,000 text books to Jaffna on September 11, Minister Premajayantha said.

The lethargic attitude of the Salaries and Cadre Commission was highly criticised by the Minister. The Commission has failed to recognise the difference between an ordinary trade union and teachers trade union, the Minister said.