Dengue eradication:

School compounds must be cleaned daily - Education Minister

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The urgent need of cleaning school compounds at least one hour a day to destroy mosquito breeding grounds by schoolchildren was highlighted by Education Minister, Bandula Gunawardane last week.

According to Minister Gunawardane, not only Government and private sector organisations, but also schoolchildren must play a vital role in eliminating the dengue menace.

Minister Gunawardane told the Junior Observer that there are 4.3 million schoolchildren in the country and it is the duty of teachers as well as parents to enlighten these children on the importance of conducting regular dengue eradication programmes.

He urged both teachers and parents to encourage children to get actively involved in daily mosquito eradication programmes in their school compounds and also home gardens.

Referring to a recent incident in a leading school in Colombo where about 20 children were infected with Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) and later hospitalised, Minister Gunawardane urged schoolchildren all over the country to start cleaning school hostels, class-rooms, buildings, sports complexes, pavilions, sports grounds and toilets regularly to eradicate possible mosquito breeding grounds.

The Minister also mentioned about the ongoing ‘Dengue Prevention Week’ which was declared by the Health Ministry in August and said that over 15,000 village committees islandwide are currently engaged in mosquito eradication programmes.

He said members of provincial, district and village level committees are taking part in various mosquito eliminating projects in their areas and requested schoolchildren also to extend a helping hand.

It is reported that some Local Government Institutions had taken legal action against persons who did not carry out proper cleaning of drains and garbage removal activities in their gardens during the past three weeks.

According to the latest Health Department statistics, over 28,000 cases of dengue were reported from various parts of the country during the first six months of this year and nearly 170 persons including schoolchildren have lost their lives.

Learn in a different way during the vacation:

Fourth programme by popular request

The fourth programme of Kent Ridge Junior+ developing future leaders personality development programme will be held for children between 9 to 16 years of age during the school vacation on August 28 at Jana Kala Kendraya, Battaramulla. Aerobics, simulations and games, visualisation activities and sharing of stories by role models will be some of the activities in the programme. It will be conducted by a group of experts in Outbound training directed by Janaka Kumarasinghe.

The key learning objectives would focus on togetherness, taking leadership, developing positive attitudes, making children lose their shyness, discovering hidden talents, managing time, being creative and taking independent decision. The previous programmes have been subscribed by children from leading local and international schools.

The Junior Observer is the Print Media Partner while Protinex-Life will stimulate the programme by being the strategic partner. Also Kent Ridge is planning to conduct customised leadership programmes for different schools.Safety and security will be a key aspect in the programme conducted by locally and internationally qualified well experienced trainers, in handling youth and children.

Investment would be Rs. 1,950 including lunch, morning and evening snacks.

For more details of the programme contact Vindya on 011-2805155 or Jagath on 071-9000008. Also for details please visit the website www.kentridge.lk or e-mail on [email protected]

Book Launch

Mage Raththaran Thaththa

Mage Raththaran Thaththa, a children’s book written by Nirmala Perera was launched at the Bishop’s College, Colombo recently.

Nirmala, a daughter of the late Dharmasiri Jayakody, a veteran journalist, is an old girl of Bishop’s. She is the receptionist of General Administrative Dept. of Lake House. Here the author presents her creation to a student of her alma mater. (Pic: Sudath Nishantha)