The Hon. Sunil Handunnetti - Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, this Supplementary Estimate gives, for the first time, something tangible to schoolchildren of low-income families. Even if Members here or their families do not feel it, countless poor families do — many cannot afford Rs. 6,000 for essential school supplies.

¶ 02 No one here opposes giving the Rs. 6,000; the discussion is how best to deliver it. While Aswesuma is not a perfect proxy, we cannot delay implementation by re-surveying now and miss the January term. Therefore, we proceed to ensure children receive the grant now, while the Education Ministry identifies additional deserving non‑Aswesuma cases at school level.

¶ 03 We will not politicize pens, pencils or exercise books. Some in the past stamped names and seals on relief — even on bananas for flood victims. We reject that. This is a service to children, not for political gain. If possible, we will expand coverage.

¶ 04 Sri Lanka has about 4.1 million schoolchildren. For those who can afford supplies, we can appeal to donate their allocation to poorer schools. This is social solidarity.

¶ 05 We have taken these decisions because revenues are recovering: by 30 September, income tax exceeded targets; Customs has achieved 90% of annual targets; tourism is recovering; domestic revenue flows are strengthening. In Cabinet, we also discussed providing structured nutrition to preschoolers.

¶ 06 We will also cut the price of exercise books by reviving domestic paper value chains. We will collect waste paper from public and private institutions, engage the Government Printing Department and National Paper Company, and re-start failing mills. By next year, exercise book prices will be reduced significantly. Please support by channeling waste paper domestically instead of exporting it.

¶ 07 On VAT on school supplies: yes, it should be removed for essentials, but we inherited a strangled economy. If the previous Government had left fiscal space, we could have moved faster. Even so, we will move in that direction as stability improves.

¶ 08 Finally, note how many employees were recruited into SOEs only during election periods under the previous Government, while calling those entities loss-making and trying to sell them.