National Safety Day

Cabinet approval was granted recently to declare December 26 as the National Safety Day. The proposal was made by Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe.

The day will commemorate the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami, which killed many in Sri Lanka as well as in other parts of the region, and caused damages worth billions of rupees. Other natural hazards faced by Sri Lankans are also to be taken into consideration on this day.

Special programmes will be carried out by the Disaster Management Ministry to educate the public on facing such disaster situations.

Encouraging students to play scrabble

You may be a scrabble player and enjoy playing this mind game.

Those of you who are into it know just how much you can enjoy yourself playing this game, and also how much it helps you improve your vocabulary and spellings.

Now, the Ministry of Education has come out with plans to distribute scrabble sets to selected schools in the country. Accordingly, Education Minister, Susil Premajayantha distributed scrabble sets to a selected set of students from selected Light House and Navodya schools, at a function held at the Ministry Auditorium recently.

The project will see the distribution of 618 scrabble sets among 204 Light House schools, 388 Navodya Schools and 30 Regional English Supporting Centres.

It has been introduced with the main objective of helping students to improve their vocabulary and spelling, and enhance their powers of concentration.

The broader objectives are to train a key teacher from each school, popularise scrabble through schools, form 'scrabble societies' in schools, organise scrabble tournaments and encourage students to improve their standards to participate in international scrabble tournaments.

This project has been funded by the UNICEF and organised by the English and Foreign Languages Branch of the Ministry of Education.

Libraries for Galle schools

The Education Ministry has made arrangements to open 12 school libraries in remote schools in the Yakkalamulla and Baddegama Educational Divisions in the Galle district, with the objective of encouraging the students to improve their reading. Funds worth Rs. 2.5 million will be allocated for this project. The designated schools will be provided with the necessary books through the support of voluntary organisations in the district.

Special emphasis will be placed on books on religions and Dhamma education as the Ministry has planned to improve spiritual values among students.

Conventions on sea pollution

We have talked about the ocean which surrounds our island, on many occasions. We have also highlighted the pollution affecting the ocean and the many projects being implemented by the Government to preserve the ocean, as well as the bounty of natural resources it provides us.

The latest news item in this regard is that the Sri Lanka Maritime Pollution Prevention Authority will sign three international conventions relevant to sea pollution.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, under which the Sri Lanka Maritime Pollution Prevention Authority operates, recently told the local news agency Lankapuvath, that these conventions are: the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation; the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water Sediments; and the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Antifouling Systems on ships.

However, such steps are not new to our island nation. Sri Lanka has already signed a number of international conventions regarding the prevention of sea pollution. The Sri Lanka Maritime Pollution Prevention Authority is the body responsible for ratifying (enacting) them.

Global warming leading to malaria?

Malaria could gain a foothold in Britain as a result of global warming, a scientist has warned. He said, rising temperatures could also lead to a tenfold rise in types of food poisoning such as salmonella.

Other illnesses could be spread by drinking water which had been polluted during storms. Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at the University of East Anglia, said home-grown malaria cases would 'not be unrealistic' as the climate warms, allowing disease-spreading mosquitoes to live here.

"We can certainly have a climate in the late part of this century that would support the types of mosquito that could spread malaria," he said .

He said, food poisoning could become more common, and warned that stormier weather could put the two per cent of those who rely on private water supplies such as wells, at risk of illnesses like diarrhoea.

Daily Mail.

Pre-school for tsunami-affected children

The Ministry of Child Development and Women's Empowerment inaugurated a new pre-school building project at Habaraduwa, Koggala at a cost of Rs. 120 million for tsunami-affected children. The project was carried out by the Government, in association with Hemas Holdings. It was one of many pre-schools that have been built in tsunami-affected areas and handed over to the Government for management.

Minister of Child Development and Women's Empowerment, Sumedha G. Jayasena, Governor of the Southern Province Kingsley T. Wickremaratne, Chief Minister of the Southern Province, Shan Wijayalal and Habaraduwa SLFP Chief Organiser, Chandima Weerakkody were among those present at the opening.

Crystals in stamps

Wonderful stamp creations, hitherto unheard of, are being released by some countries. The latest, is a stamp from Austria. This stamp shown above, depicts a swan, and on its body, six crystals are embedded, to enhance its value.

Two such stamps have been issued together, each bearing a denomination of 3.75 euros, which in our currency is Rs. 450. The swan is the official emblem of the company known as Swarovski, which was instrumental in producing the stamp in association with Austria Post. Swarovski has been highly successful in the manufacture of ornaments using crystals, and the necklaces, pins, earrings and various kinds of beads it produces, are highly popular among people, especially in Europe.

Both Austria Post and Swarovski benefit from the sale of the stamps, which they produced to bring joy and thrill to stamp collectors all over the world. All stamp enthusiasts will surely be keen and proud to own these stamps.

Francis P. Gunasekera.