All ex-child soldiers rehabilitated

by Rohana JAYALAL

The last batch of rehabilitated ex-LTTE child soldiers, 108 boys and 90 girls were handed over to their parents recently by the Rehabilitation Authority, according to sources.

This follows a directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa that all ex-child soldiers of LTTE should be rehabilitated and given the opportunity to return to their parents to resume normal lives.

The Rehabilitation Authority source said that there were many minors (between 12 and 17 years) and they were handed over to their parents legally, through a court procedure.

Government Child Probation officers, Social Services Department officers and the relevant Divisional Secretaries were also present at the Magistrate’s Courts, Vavuniya when the children were handed over to their parents.

Under this programme out of the 294 child soldiers 96 children were sent back home earlier to their parents.

The children who were rehabilitated at the Hindu College, Ratmalana had engaged in cricket matches, participated in camp fires, learned scouting and many other skills like any other child would learn at school.

Of the ex-child soldiers who underwent rehabilitation, 78 (38 girls and 40 boys) were awarded membership badges of the Sri Lanka Scout Association and the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association at a ceremony held at the Hindu College, Ratmalana recently with the participation of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe and Brigadier L. C. Perera.

The Government provided all facilities to train them and bring them into the stream of normal civil life. It is hoped that after they go back to their native places, they would return to their schools and continue studies, like other children in their hometowns or villages.

Teen climbs Mt. Everest

A California teen recently became the youngest person to ever scale Mount Everest. Thirteen year old Jordan Romero broke the record on May 21st and beat that of a 16 year old who had done it previously. That teen was from Nepal.

It is said that there have been about 4,000 people that have climbed Mount Everest, the largest mountain in the world. Romero scaled the 29,000 foot mountain from the Nepal side.

It was also revealed that Romero had done his feat on the same day that a man set the record for the most times having scaled Mount Everest.

Romero’s father and some Sherpa guides were also part of the party that climbed the mountain. Romero told reporters that he wanted to get some rocks from the peak of Mount Everest and have it put into a necklace.

Romero also said that he planned on climbing every highest peak in the 50 contigious US states. For now, being the youngest to scale Mount Everest will suffice.

Romero also said that he would like to climb all the highest mountains of the worlds seven contienents. A very big feat for a very young man.

News briefs

* Many valuable artefacts including a blue sapphire weighing 10.42 grams, Roman coins, pieces of graphite and copper melting moulds have been found during archaeological excavations from an area about 100 metres away from the Jethavana Cheithiya in Anuradhapura.

Officials say that these artefacts belong to a period prior to the region of King Mahasen, (272-308 AD). Remains of a furnace a water supply system and bones of some pre-historic animals too have been recovered from the site.

* The release of a booklet on bravery written by the schoolboy recipient of the 2009 Gold Star of Civilian Bravery Award was the highlight at this year’s National Civilian Awards Ceremony held at the BMICH on June 3.

* Adding to the major environmental hazard posed by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico another such disaster takes place closer to home this time - in the Indian Ocean. Emergency teams worked hard to contain some 2,000 tons of crude oil that leaked into the Singapore Straits after two vessels collided on May 25.

* Out of the 56 schools in the Central Province not a single student has got through the G.C.E (O/L) examination this time. The Governer of the Central Province, Tikiri Kebbekaduwa expressed shock and displasure over the situation and queried about the role of the education authorities in the area. It was disclosed at the meeting held at the Governer's office that in certain schools there were no teachers to teach Mathematics and English while in others there were two or three for each subject.