Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage

¶ 01 Precisely 142,804 individuals were provided assistance in the form of a monthly allowance of Rs. 7,500. Taking the present situation into account, upon the new call for applications we increased the allowance for 9,509 persons with disabilities from Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 10,000. In November 2025, we added 27,217 new applications to this programme upon receiving new applications. Accordingly, based on accurate and up-to-date statistics — practical, real numbers rather than merely what appears in the Gazette — we have reflected the current applications. The number of persons with disabilities indicated as 200,000 in the Gazette will be provided an allowance of Rs. 10,000 each, and arrangements have been made to do so.

¶ 02 Mr. Speaker, based on information received in the recent past, particularly reviewing the applications received under this Aswesuma programme, assistance had been provided to around 42,000 chronic kidney disease patients. However, we received a large number of new applications. Therefore, through this Gazette, we propose to increase the number of low-income beneficiaries suffering from chronic kidney disease from 50,000 to 70,000 by an additional 20,000. Accordingly, for the four social categories — extreme poor, poor, transitional, and vulnerable — around 1,920,000 persons are currently receiving assistance under this programme. We have increased the previous Rs. 8,500 to Rs. 10,000 and the previous Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 17,500, and are implementing accordingly. We intend to continue this programme until June 2027.

¶ 03 Mr. Speaker, while implementing this social protection programme as a Government, our policy is to empower people as much as possible while providing benefits to those in need. Our goal is not to keep them dependent. However, due to the economic trajectories of recent decades, we understand that a large segment still requires assistance. Thus, while providing essential assistance, we are working in parallel to gradually help them exit dependency.

¶ 04 Last year, we implemented a Community Empowerment Programme supported by the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and Treasury provisions. Through this, we aimed to develop micro and small enterprises. Under this financial support, we granted Rs. 150,000 per family, and provided foundational financial literacy and related training, and assisted them to prepare business plans as part of an empowerment programme.

¶ 05 Further, through our Samurdhi Development Department, we implemented a concessional loan support programme. Treasury has provided allocations to extend loans at a low interest rate — 4% this year. In 2025, we extended Rs. 58 billion in loans to develop these enterprises, and in 2026 we have allocated Rs. 60 billion through the Samurdhi Development Department to promote micro and small enterprise development and strengthen them economically.

¶ 06 Our Government’s policy is that, while other ministries proceed with their tasks and we extend social protection to those in need, we continuously empower communities to move away from dependency. We are implementing a number of programmes toward that end.

¶ 07 I must also state, although today’s debate is on the method of paying Aswesuma social protection benefits, an unrelated discussion has arisen on education reforms and the Attorney-General. Sometimes the Opposition brings baseless topics into Parliament and has spread serious misconceptions about education reforms without understanding what they are. We are implementing reforms based on a sound, modern, scientific foundation through five pillars.

¶ 08 The five main pillars of the education reforms are: - Curriculum transformation; - Human resource development (recruitment, training, and upskilling of educationists, administrators, and teachers, after years without adequate recruitment); - Physical and other facilities (buildings, classrooms, laboratories, and technical facilities); - Assessments (moving from an exam-centric system to blended assessments that include continuous assessment); - Public awareness (of students, teachers, parents, and society).

¶ 09 We planned to implement the new reforms in Grade 1 and Grade 6 this year. There are 15 modules in Grade 6; a minor technical error in a part of one module was blown out of proportion to create false narratives and attack the entire education programme designed to produce a developed human being for a developed future. Despite this, we will proceed with implementing the Grade 1 reforms and the other components across the five pillars. The Opposition’s unfounded criticisms have backfired on them.

¶ 10 They threatened a no-confidence motion against the Hon. Prime Minister and Minister of Education. We say: bring it. Do not mislead and agitate society with false claims and then backtrack. We are ready to debate any subject at any time. Do not hide behind falsehoods.

¶ 11 The confusion sown in the education sector by certain Opposition groups has harmed the future of our children. We stress that education — both formal and non-formal — is vital to create a free, self-reliant citizen, and we proceed to build a modern, capable human resource for Sri Lanka. Thank you.