The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

Samagi Jana Balawegaya· Colombo· 12 November 2025 ·Oral question: Question by Private Notice: Reforms to Piriven Education (Standing Order 27(2))

Public FinanceReligion & Culture

AI summary generated by gpt-5.5

Sajith Premadasa argued that the proposed allocation for Buddhasasana in 2026 falls by Rs. 1,330 million from the 2025 figure, and said such a reduction is inappropriate given the constitutional status accorded to Buddhism. He requested that the allocation be increased and urged the Government to expedite appointments for about 600 Dhamma University Higher Diploma holders and address the 14,000 who have passed the Dharmacharya Examination. He also stated that sufficient public revenue is available, citing high tax collections and revenue exceeding IMF expectations.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I wish to point out something emerging from the Minister’s reply. For 2025, the allocation is Rs. 3,484 million. For 2026, it is Rs. 2,154 million. That shows a reduction of Rs. 1,330 million. Hon. Speaker, we propose that such a reduction is inappropriate. At a time when the Constitution itself grants a special status to the Buddhasasana, reducing the allocation from Rs. 3,484 million to Rs. 2,154 million is not suitable.

¶ 02 Next, I propose to the Hon. Prime Minister that appointments for Dharmacharya teachers have not been given, nor to those holding Higher Diplomas from Dhamma Universities — around 600 are awaiting. Also, some 14,000 have passed the Dharmacharya Examination. Please consider these matters and expedite Dharmacharya teacher appointments and school teacher appointments for Higher Diploma holders from Dhamma Universities.

¶ 03 Particularly, we request the Minister of Buddhasasana not to cut allocations. There is still time to increase them. In truth, sufficient funds exist; as was said, the Treasury is overflowing. The public have borne a heavy tax burden, with revenue even exceeding what the IMF asked.

Provenance

Source: Hansard, Wednesday, 12 November 2025 ·No. 23378 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
Page · column: not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
Permalink: /lk/speeches/17267

View source PDF ↗ Suggest a correction

Cite as: The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 12 November 2025. No. 23378. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/17267