Exposing schoolchildren to drugs:

More vigilance needed to protect them

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane expressed his displeasure over the incident where some school children in the Gampaha District, were intoxicated with painkiller drugs, recently. The Minister is of the view that not only school teachers but also parents of young children and elders must focus special attention on the behaviour of the younger generation.

He told the Junior Observer that relevant school authorities have already been directed to investigate this incident that took place inside the school premises and take immediate measures to stop this nature of incidents in the future. He said such incidents cannot be accepted by the civil society and it is the duty of all to protect the lives of the younger generation and prevent them from indulging in such harmful activities.

Speaking about the value of the younger generation, the Minister said the young people of today will become the future leaders in the country and they have to be guided properly for this role. According to the police, nine students from a school in the Gampaha District had taken painkiller drugs a few weeks ago and some of them had been hospitalised. The area health authorities had investigated this matter and revealed that these drugs caused dizziness. They stressed the need to take stern action against those who provided these drugs to the children.

The matter has been thoroughly investigated by the police and immediate steps have been taken to crack down on those involved in the distribution of such painkiller drugs to schoolchildren and also other youth.

Meanwhile, Minister Gunawardane called upon parents to keep a close tab on their children since it is the bounden duty of all parents to protect them and develop their morale values.

Improving quality of technical education:

Selected schools to be given special buses

by Rohana JAYALAL

The Transport Ministry in collaboration with the Education Ministry will promote technical education among schoolchildren by providing a bus with an operative engine and gear box for selected schools in each zonal education division,to carry out technical training, Transport Ministry sources said.

The programme will be carried out following recent discussions between the Transport Ministry officials and Education Ministry officials. Already, 93 schools have been selected through the education zonal divisions by the Education Ministry for the programme. In the first phase, the Transport Ministry will provide a few buses for schools in the Southern area.

According to the Ministry, around 60 per cent of its income is spent on obtaining technical know-how when the vehicles attached to the Ministry undergo technical problems.

They also pointed out that as there is a dearth of technical students in this area, there are many vacancies islandwide in the technical section. It is in order to encourage more students to take to the technical field that the Ministry decided to initiate this programme with the Education Ministry.

The Transport Ministry has decided to fill the vacancies and cut down on the Ministry's unnecessary expenditure on SLTB buses after this programme is successful in a few years. The programme would be extended to other areas in the next few months, Ministry sources said.

Promoting a multi- lingual community

The first phase of the 'Three languages programme from village to village' initiated by the Ministry of National Languages and Special Integration was launched at the Southern Management Training Institute, recently.

Under this programme all State sector employees will be educated in at least one other local language other than their mother tongue. This will encourage a Sinhala speaking Government servant to speak Tamil and vice versa. The first phase was launched as a three-day residential workshop and conducted free of charge. The transport sector employees were the first beneficiaries of the programme.

Mapping out composition of underground water

Plans are under way to map out the composition of underground water and research has been commenced by the Institute of Fundamental Studies.

The surface water in most areas are contaminated and since there had been an increase in the use of underground water there is a possibility of health risks.

"The research is aimed at minimising these health risks," researcher Dr. Meththika Withanage said. Mapping out Fluoride and Calcium excessive areas will be completed soon. The data of the Hambantota District has been mapped out by the institute, she said.

Withanage said this project will focus mainly on areas where there is high usage of underground water.

Research in Kurunegala and Puttalam will be expedited to take action in preventing health problems of the people in those areas.