The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, when we compiled and planned our policy statement “A Prosperous Country - A Beautiful Life,” we included many priorities. The common thrust was: we proposed multiple priorities for our government. The foundations included: eliminating poverty, digitizing the country, ensuring the rule of law, treating everyone equally before the law, eradicating drugs—a scourge that has harmed this country—building national harmony, moving away from divisive ethnic politics to uniting all communities, and strengthening democracy. Based on these, our policy statement sets out actions and priorities. Many programmes are included therein, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

¶ 02 When a government assumes office, given the situation at that time, it must choose where to start in implementing the policy statement’s priorities. You cannot do everything at once. They must be prioritized in line with the country’s and society’s context.

¶ 03 Hon. Deputy Speaker, when we took over the country, at the time of this change of government, we need not keep repeating the situation; you know it was not a routine transition. We took charge of a country halted mid-journey; with economic activity suspended; with lending stopped; with development projects stalled. Poverty did not arise in the past year alone; it had been growing for a long time. As a new government, that was the country we inherited—one that had never before been governed by this group of people.

¶ 04 Especially during the election period, the Opposition crafted a certain image about us, which the people rejected when they elected us. There was great fear in society; even today some in the Opposition continue to promote internationally the notion that we are dangerous, cannot manage the economy, and that the economy would collapse as soon as we take power. It was amidst such social narratives that we took over. Our foremost task was to stabilize the country, ensure conditions for uninterrupted public life, build confidence among the public, business community and internationally about the country and the new government. Based on that context, our first-year actions and priorities were chosen.

¶ 05 Hon. Deputy Speaker, looking back at the past year, I genuinely thank the Opposition for this opportunity to speak about what we have done, particularly from the Ministry’s perspective.

¶ 06 Under our watch, we strengthened democracy; we were able to conduct three elections in a very peaceful manner. After the last election, we did not need even an hour of curfew; nothing untoward happened. This is not a small matter. For the first time we have conducted such free and peaceful elections, three within this year. The Opposition says to hold Provincial Council elections; yes, we will. There is no need for us to run away from elections. We have already demonstrated that this year.

¶ 07 During this period, independent commissions have been able to function freely. As I said earlier, during our tenure the Election Commission was ranked among the best in the world this past month. We should value that.

¶ 08 Commissions that had been established by law but not appointed for years were appointed during our tenure. For example, the National Commission for Women has now been established and its members appointed, and they will commence work soon. Likewise, we have appointed representatives to the Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO, which had been inactive, and restarted its work. We have enabled existing commissions to function independently and established new ones, appointing members properly. From the outset, through the way we held elections, we have been able to strengthen democracy.

¶ 09 Hon. Deputy Speaker, let me use this opportunity to highlight a few things implemented by the Ministry of Education in line with our policy statement. We pledged to intervene to reduce inequalities within the current education system, including disparities among schools; to reduce burdens on children, teachers and parents; and to expand higher education opportunities. We have begun interventions accordingly.

¶ 10 For example, long-discussed but unimplemented education reforms desired by all—we have now initiated their implementation. With required measures and consultations underway, we plan to implement these reforms in general education for Grades 1 and 6 from 2026. We also pledged to establish an Education Council to protect the rights and enhance the professionalism of all practitioners in the education sector. We have appointed two committees—a committee of Members of Parliament and a committee of officials—and we expect to receive the terms of reference very soon to proceed with establishing that Council.

¶ 11 We have begun actions to protect professionalism across the sector. To reduce inequalities, we have intervened significantly: we have provided a Rs. 6,000 voucher for stationery, a voucher for shoes, sanitary pads for all girls, and fabric for uniforms. We have increased allocations for school meals. For digital infrastructure, we have identified around 1,200 schools and plan to provide fibre connections to all of them by year-end. We will commence infrastructure improvements in schools and in education zones this year. We have allocated funds to improve long-neglected colleges of education, not only infrastructure but also to review and update curricula.

¶ 12 When we took office, many large projects in education had been started and halted. Since 2016, a project called “Nearest School - Best School” had been launched and is still not completed. We have intervened significantly to move it forward.

¶ 13 Let me conclude with this: many projects in universities had stalled, especially in newly started universities. We have allocated funds to restart 26 such projects by the end of this year.

¶ 14 We increased university intake numbers but previous governments had not ensured facilities for those students. Hostel facilities are especially inadequate. We have drawn up a five-year plan to establish new hostels and improve existing infrastructure and submitted it to the Ministry of Finance.

¶ 15 Regarding the public service, as mentioned here, in the past five years vacancies were not properly filled, nor were new recruits made, which heavily affected the education sector. In universities there are many vacancies, and due to the crises under past governments and the economic crisis, many staff left the country. Consequently there are multiple problems in the university system. So far this year, we have approved recruitment of 1,284 academic staff and 1,868 non-academic staff—total 3,150—into the university system. In addition, 307 new cadre positions (academic, non-academic and managerial) have been approved by the Department of Management Services.

¶ 16 We are intervening across ministries to improve infrastructure and fill vacancies that have long been stuck. What I have outlined are only a few of the actions underway in the education sector. We have allocated Rs. 1,670 million so far for “Nearest School - Best School,” and hope to restart by year-end the initiatives pending since 2016. Many school building projects had left unsafe conditions; we have allocated funds to address these and aim to complete them by year-end. As I said before, many schools still lack proper water and sanitation; we have allocated funds and are intervening there as well.

¶ 17 Hon. Deputy Speaker, again I thank the Opposition for this opportunity. Rather than the Opposition’s narrative, we must listen to what the people tell us about where the country was when we took over and where it is today. We know how much relief our anti-drug operations have brought to mothers; how many such incidents occur in schools.

¶ 18 Finally, when we do politics we can accuse and criticize each other—that is part of politics; we are ready to face it. But I make one request: do not drag children into this. Do not use innocent children to make false accusations, harming their lives. Do not misuse the freedom of this Parliament to target 14- and 15-year-olds who cannot respond. If we speak, let us speak of important matters. As adults let us critique each other. I urge the Opposition to maintain at least a minimal ethic in criticism and not target children.

¶ 19 Thank you very much.