A departmental inquiry committee has been appointed to investigate the incident involving a misplaced stock of school textbooks, Deputy Minister of Education Madhura Senewiratne said. 

He added that police investigations are also underway in connection with the matter.

According to police findings, after the textbooks were handed over for transport, the first suspect sold the consignment to a location in Alawwa. 

The owner of that establishment then resold the stock to a center in Narammala, from where it was later moved to Wattala.

The Department of Educational Publications had originally handed over the textbooks on May 24 for distribution to schools in the Eastern Province. 

The consignment comprised Tamil language activity books and Grade One textbooks for the third term, valued at more than Rs. 800,000.

Police confirmed that five suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident and have been remanded until August 25 pending further investigations. (Newswire)

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The Ministry of Education has clarified that the printing of textbooks for schools has not been halted, but changes have been made to certain grades under the government’s proposed education reforms. 

Education Ministry Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewa states that textbooks for grades 2–5 and 7–11 will be provided as they do not fall under the education reforms, which come into effect in January next year. 

He further said that, however, textbooks will not be provided for Grades 01 and 06 per the education reforms, and that instead, they will be provided with simplified module materials.

Nalaka Kaluwewa also clarified that the printing of teacher manuals has not been halted and will be printed per the requirements of the new education reforms.

The Education Ministry Secretary revealed that printing of textbooks for Grades 02-05, Grades 07- 11, and the module materials for Grades 01 and 06 have commenced, and are expected to be completed by November 15. 

He added that distribution to schools across the country is scheduled to be completed before December 31. (Newswire)

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The Ministry of Education has announced that textbooks will not be issued for Grade 1 and Grade 6 students in the upcoming academic year, it was reported.

According to News First, Deputy Minister of Education Madura Seneviratne said, the measure has been taken under the new education reforms.

He said that, as such, instead, students in these grades will be provided with activity books and modular learning materials.

Deputy Minister Madura Seneviratne further said that printing of these materials has already commenced.

He noted that the weight of schoolbags for students in these grades will also be reduced as a result. (Newswire)

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Cabinet approval has been granted for 24 institutions to print school textbooks for selected grades that will be distributed free of charge in 2025. 

In April this year, Cabinet approval was granted to print 71 categories of school textbooks out of a total of 317 from the State Printing Corporation for next year. 

According to the government, national competitive bids were called for the printing of the remaining 246 categories of school textbooks required for free distribution to school children in 2025. 

Thereby, the Cabinet approved the proposal by the Minister of Education to get the textbooks for grades, excluding 1, 6, and 10, printed from 24 institutions.

The selected institutions are those that had submitted minimum quotations with substantially responsive minimum pricing as per the standing procurement committee appointed by the Cabinet. (Newswire)

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The Ministry of Education has informed school principals to notify if they are yet to receive school textbooks and uniform materials for this year (2024). 

Issuing a statement, the Education Ministry said that steps have been initiated to distribute school textbooks and uniform materials to all state schools.

The Ministry added that the textbooks and uniform materials have already been handed over to the Divisional Education Offices as of now.

Schools that are yet to receive school textbooks and uniform materials have been instructed to notify the Education Ministry via the following hotlines and emails;

• For school textbooks : 

Hotlines – 0112784815/0112785306

Fax – 0112784815

Email – epddistribution2024@gmail.com 

• For school uniform materials 

Hotline – 0112785573

Fax – 0112785573

Email – schoolsupplymoe@gmail.com (NewsWire)

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Sri Lanka has used over USD 10 million from India’s assistance of USD 1 billion to print nearly half of the textbooks for its four million young students, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said on Saturday.

India announced a USD 1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka last year as part of its financial assistance to help the country deal with its economic crisis.

After an agreement to extend the line of credit was inked, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said India has always stood with the people of Sri Lanka and will continue to extend all possible support to the country.

“A concessional credit facility of USD 1 billion was extended to the Government of Sri Lanka by the Government of India in March 2022 for supply of essential items including food, fuel, medicines, industrial raw materials. Out of this facility, over USD 10 million has been used by SPC and private importers to procure printing paper and material from India,” the High Commission said.

“This is being used to print 45 per cent of textbooks required by 4 million young students of Sri Lanka for the academic year 2023,” it said in a statement.

India and Sri Lanka enjoy a multi-faceted and multi-sectoral partnership. In line with its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, India’s assistance to the people of Sri Lanka is extended in various forms, including through concessional credit facilities and lines of credit.

“Till date, lines of credit worth over USD 4 billion have been extended to Sri Lanka in diverse sectors including supply of essential items, petroleum, fertilisers, development of railways, infrastructure, defence sector and renewable energy,” the statement said.

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022 that also sparked political turmoil in the island nation that led to the ouster of the all-powerful Rajapaksa family for now.

The Sri Lankan government in May declared a debt default on over USD 51 billion in the foreign loans – a first in the country’s history.

Extending a much-needed lifeline to a neighbour in need, India gave financial assistance of nearly USD 4 billion to Colombo during the year. (NDTV)

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A consignment of textbooks printed with the support of India at the State Printing Corporation (SPC) was formally dispatched on Thursday, the 9th of March 2023, the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka stated.

The High Commission said in a statement that the textbooks were formally dispatched by Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Education, Dr. Susil Premajayantha, while State Minister of Education Arvind Kumar was also present on the occasion. 

The Indian credit line of USD 1 billion enabled the printing of 45% of textbooks required by 4 million young Sri Lankan students. 

Over USD 10 million out of the credit line was used by the SPC and private importers to procure printing paper and materials from India, the Indian High Commission said. (NewsWire)

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