The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Industries have signed an agreement to provide schoolchildren with locally manufactured shoes free of charge.
According to the Ministry of Industries, a pilot project will be implemented to distribute standard-quality, locally produced school shoes in place of the vouchers currently given to schools with fewer than 250 students.
The agreement was signed today (01 Jan) at the Ministry of Education under the patronage of Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, between the Ministry of Industries, the Ministry of Education, and nine local shoe manufacturing companies.
This pilot project will cover 1,302 schools in the Western and Southern Provinces, benefiting 150,521 schoolchildren, as well as 12,146 students and laywomen from 354 Pirivena institutions. The local manufacturers agreed to provide shoes with a one-year warranty at a cost of Rs. 2,100 per pair, which is expected to save approximately Rs. 140 million overall.
For this project, only local shoe manufacturers registered with the Ministry of Industries were selected as suppliers.
These manufacturers also agreed to visit the selected schools and provide shoes that fit the children’s sizes, the ministry added. (Newswire)