New in brief

No move to abolish primary classes

The Ministry of Education has denied the allegation that the government will scrap primary classes from national schools.

Minister Susil Premajayantha assured that the system to enrol children to grade one classes under the religion quota would not be abolished.

The National Education Commission (NEC) is now in the process of drafting a national policy on school admissions to grade one following a Supreme Court ruling.

The proposed National Policy on School Admissions by the NEC came under fire with strong protests by the past students associations in the country.

More women in Parliament?

Following requests by political parties to increase the number of women to enter Parliament from the national list, a bigger quota will be given to women under the new electoral reforms.

Chairman of the Electoral Reforms Committee Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that this had been considered when drafting the reforms.

Political parties had requested the Committee to nominate one woman for every two male members nominated from the national list.

Ayurvedic doctors, dispensaries to be registered

All ayurvedic doctors and dispensaries run by them will have to be registered under the Department of Ayurveda soon. The Ministry of Indigenous Medicine has decided to maintain a register fulfilling a requirement under the National Ayurvedic Bill, which has been presented to the Attorney General's Department.

Under the new Bill, all doctors practising ayurveda and unani medicine, their treatment centres, ayurvedic hospitals and ayurvedic massaging centres should be registered under the Department of Ayurveda.

CBK's daughter weds

Yashodara Kumaratunga, daughter of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and late leader of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party and popular actor Vijaya Kumaratunga, married British Consultant Neuro Surgeon Dr. Rodger Walker at a ceremony held in London last Friday.

Yashodara's husband, Dr. Walker was her former Professor of Medicine at the Cambridge University and now works as a Consultant at St. John's Hospital, London, where Yashodara also works as a doctor.

Only a handful of friends and relatives of former President Kumaratunga, including her brother, Minister Anura Bandaranaike and sister Sunethra Bandaranaike, attended the traditional Sinhalese wedding ceremony. Several Heads of State and relatives of Dr. Walker also attended the wedding.

According to informed sources, a grand ceremony will be held in a five star hotel in Colombo in August, when the couple arrives on holiday.