Schoolchildren should not end up in jail - State Defence Secretary | Daily News

Schoolchildren should not end up in jail - State Defence Secretary

State Defence Secretary Sunil Samaraweera. Picture by Wimal Karunathilaka.
State Defence Secretary Sunil Samaraweera. Picture by Wimal Karunathilaka.

It is discovered that 44 percent of the prisoners in Sri Lanka had received school education only up to grade five or less.

But schoolchildren in the country should not end up in jail and they should become useful citizens who contribute towards the development of the country, State Defence Secretary Sunil Samaraweera said.

Addressing a press conference held at the Defence Ministry in Colombo ​on December 6​ he said that there are about four million schoolchildren in Sri Lanka at the moment and they receive education in around 9,600 schools under 200,000 teachers.

But all students cannot become doctors, engineers and lawyers. Somehow the students who cannot become professionals should become useful citizens to the country and society. According to the State Defence Secretary Samaraweera, the students of Defence College sit for the Ordinary Level Examination for the first time this year and the students in Kurunegala Branch will sit for the O/L next year.

The skills of schoolchildren need to be developed and sports are essential for this. Becoming cadets help them to become excellent citizens with all types of skills which will be useful all the time especially during emergencies such as natural disasters.

The country needs a skilled and fully developed human capital in order to achieve development. All the other skills of the schoolchildren should be developed parallel to education.

Otherwise, they fail to face the challenges of life. Developing skills in children prevent them from getting addicted to drugs and other anti-social behaviours. The training enable them to achieve any target, he added. 


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