Writing of textbooks to begin

The writing of school textbooks necessary for the year 2008 will get under way soon, according to officials at

 the Educational Publications Department.

The textbooks on 78 subjects prescribed from Grades 7 to 11 will be written according to the new syllabi.

The task of writing the books will be entrusted to a board of 15 academics for each subject. After the new textbooks are edited, open tenders will be called to print them by the first week of May. The new textbooks are expected to be available by June, July and August and ready for distribution in September.

The distribution of these books will follow a new methodology and will be carried out under the supervision of the Educational Publications Department from next year.

Provincial Directors are expected to be handed over the task of efficiently distributing the textbooks without delay.

European comet makes crucial flyby of Mars

Germany: A European spacecraft carried out a close flyby of Mars, a crucial manoeuvre (move) in its meandering (ambling), 10-year voyage through the solar system to make the first soft landing on a comet.

Applause broke out in the European Space Agency's (ESA) mission control centre in western Germany when the Rosetta comet probe's radio signal was picked up after 15 tense minutes of silence as the craft passed behind the Red Planet.

Rosetta used Mars' gravitational field to change course and head toward two similar flybys of Earth this year and in 2009, which will accelerate it toward its distant target comet. The craft passed barely 250 kilometres from Mars. The navigation had to be precise, as a mistake could not be corrected.

It was a manoeuvre the craft was not designed to make, taking it into Mars' shadow where solar panels could not generate electricity to keep its systems alive. The original Rosetta mission would have taken it on a course where it did not fly through shadow; but a launch delay forced a change to a different target comet.

ESA officials solved the shadow problem by shutting off many of the spacecraft's instruments and using batteries untested since launch almost three years go.

AP

Programme to promote culture

Several public education projects have been planned by the Cultural Affairs Ministry to promote and preserve traditional Sri Lankan culture.

As part of this project, well-known Sinhala and Tamil books will be introduced to global audiences. Arrangements have already been made to translate them into English with the intention of making them a part of world literature.

Another programme Senehasa, launched on International Women's Day (March 8), targets the education of parents on bringing up their children according to Sri Lankan cultural and social values. This programme is to be implemented through regional cultural centres. As the year 2007 has been marked as the National Year of Drama, the Ministry has also launched a programme to train people on drama.

Accordingly, scripts of dramas will be accepted from dramatists, and they will be improved and enhanced. The dramas will be staged after the actors are given proper training. Youth participating in these programmes will receive training at 132 cultural centres.

'Sanskruthika Purawara', another similar programme, will be carried out twice a year to promote traditional Sri Lankan culture. This programme will see about 20 villages being combined to promote traditional rituals which are disappearing from the country.

A stamp which changed the course of history

This stamp issued in 1900 by Nicaragua Post changed the course of history. A volcano was the matter of contention. The volcano known as Momotombo is depicted in this stamp.

You may know the giant waterway named Panama joining the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Constructed by the United States of America, it was opened in 1914.

This canal would not be where it is now, but for the stamp shown here. It might have been elsewhere, probably in Nicaragua, which is about 500 miles north. The United States sought the permission of Colombia to build the canal in Panama, as that territory belonged to Colombia. In the meantime, the government of Nicaragua was trying its best to have it constructed in Nicaragua itself.

There were many different opinions and some were talking about accepting the Nicaraguan offer. Some Americans were willing, while some others said that it would be dangerous to embark on the project as there was the possibility of an eruption of the volcano, which had posed much threat to life and property in that country.

In order to support the objections, they produced a stamp which had been issued in Nicaragua earlier. No better proof was necessary. The United States abandoned the idea of building the canal in Nicaragua. Instead, it was built at its present location. So, you see how a stamp could alter the course of history.

Francis P. Gunasekera

Coastal conservation project

A project to plant saplings of the mangrove variety, pandanus (Wetakeiya) got under way recently in the coastal area from Panadura to Alutgama. This project has been launched by the Forest Conservation Department with the intention of minimising sea-erosion.

Close to 6,000 saplings are expected to be planted under this project. Some have already been planted along the shore at the Katukurunda lagoon, Elaboda, Pinwatta and Kadalana area.

There are also plans to distribute 5,000 coconut saplings and 1,500 mango saplings in areas where trees were uprooted by the tsunami.

Waste material fairs at schools

You all know the importance of keeping your environment clean and free of waste material. Many schools carry out projects to make their students aware of the importance of a clean environment.

As another step in creating awareness among schoolchildren, the North Central Provincial Council has planned waste material fairs in schools of the area.

The Local Government Commissioner's Department plans to carry out such waste material fairs in every district council area. The first such fair was held at Kaluwila Sena Maha Vidyalaya in Anuradhapura with the main aim of collecting empty bottles.

The venture has now become extremely popular at this school. The objective of the organisers is to conduct such fairs in every school in the province.

Children can collect waste material which can be recycled and sell them to entrepreneurs who will come to these fairs. They will thus be able to earn an additional income which can be deposited in their bank savings accounts.