300 Jaffna students in Colombo for Sports Festival 2008

by Ananth PALAKIDNAR

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Three-hundred students along with their teachers have arrived in Colombo from Jaffna to take part in the National Inter-School Sports Festival-2008.

The students from fifteen boys and girls schools from Jaffna arrived by ship from Kankesanthurai to Trincomalee and later they travelled by a special train from Vavuniya to Colombo arranged by the Ministry of Social Services, the sources said.

It is for the first time in ten years that a large contingent of Jaffna students are taking part in the National Inter-School Sports Festival in all events, the sources said.

According to sources the special train service was arranged for these schoolchildren to travel from Vavuniya to Colombo as most of them had not travelled in a train so far.

The majority of the students were born in 1991, whereas the railway service between Jaffna and Colombo was non-existent in 1990.

Earlier, whether it was cadeting, scouting or sports events, the Jaffna students travelled to Colombo and other parts of the country by train, the sources said.

On the directive of Minister Douglas Devananda special sight seeing tours have also been arranged for the students in the South, the sources said.