Hon. Dilith Jayaweera

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, this opportunity came at just the right time. Our Deputy Minister Nalin Hewage is from our area; but let me say this to him. Yes, unfortunate — had you fallen to this side, you could have gone to a club and relaxed. Hon. Presiding Member, he is from Galle; I am from Galle. I studied at St. Aloysius’ College; he knows this. He will acknowledge without malice that I have worked with great dedication as an old boy to develop that school. Together as alumni we improved physical resources significantly. Hon. Deputy Minister, you also know I supported several other schools. But due to the circulars issued by our Minister over the past two years, we cannot now go to those schools; if we go, we are penalized under your village law — we do not know where we will be hit by ‘chmod’. Therefore we do not go. As a private sector person engaged in social service, I have visited thousands of schools without ever showing my face publicly; I had no political ambition then. We completed many projects that improved schools; funds were raised that way. I request you to revisit the rule that bars us from going to schools. We can still do much if allowed.

¶ 02 Recently, I donated musical instruments to a school in the Korale area. Because I could not hand them over at the school, I had to go to a Sunday school. Another incident occurred in Kandy. We cannot go to schools and are forced to distribute through Sunday schools. We do this in good faith. Is this not more important, Hon. Deputy Minister, than heated words? You said they did nothing; let us accept and move on. We must go forward, not keep blaming history. Do we see a roadmap to move forward within this Ministry’s estimate or in the reforms?

¶ 03 Hon. Presiding Member, we are deeply committed to free education; we love it. The Deputy Minister knows my home; my mother was a teacher. Free education brought us forward. However, free…