The Hon. (Dr.) Madhura Senevirathna — Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, in reply to Question 1468/2025 on the Project for Development of Special Sports Schools:

¶ 02 (a) (i) Under the 2025 Budget, five provinces—Western, Northern, Central, Uva, and North Central—were selected for this special project. Rs. 500 million was allocated under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (Department of Sports Development). Following inspections, six schools were chosen for development with Rs. 200 million from the Department of Sports Development: 1. Jaffna Central College 2. Anuradhapura Central College 3. Monaragala Mahanama Central College 4. Akuramboda Weera Keppetipola Central College 5. Walalla A. Ratnayaka Central College 6. Eheliyagoda Rajasinghe Central College

¶ 03 This is a targeted special initiative for 2025; it is not that the Southern Province was excluded permanently—rather, the number of schools for this phase is fixed.

¶ 04 (ii) Allocation in 2025: Rs. 200 million (Department of Sports Development) for the six selected schools.

¶ 05 (iii) As of August 2025, Rs. 150 million had been channeled to District Secretariats; financial progress was 44.823% and physical progress 62.1%. The remaining Rs. 50 million will not be utilized within that year due to practical constraints, including impacts from the “8960” cyclone at some sites. Detailed progress is submitted as an annex.

¶ 06 (iv) Basis for selecting only five provinces: as stated in (i), this was a phased, special-project decision under available budget.

¶ 07 (b) Not applicable.