First Adi Vasi model village opened

With the objective of establishing the identity of the Adi Vasi community in Dambana, the first Adi Vasi model village was declared open by Senior Presidential Advisor and Parliamentarian, Basil Rajapaksa and Minister of Nation Building, Minister Jagath Pushpakumara, recently.

The modernised model village in Dambana, Uva Province, was developed at a cost of Rs. 7 million under the "Gama Neguma" development drive.

Infrastructure facilities, including concreted by-roads constructed under the "Maga Neguma" Development programme, several newly constructed small scale tanks, an irrigation system and a multi-purpose community hall, have been provided. Houses have been constructed under the "Diriya Piyasa" community partnership programme.

A project aimed at providing sanitary and drinking water facilities to the villagers was also included in this village development project.

Villagers had been provided financial assistance and dry rations by the Sri Lanka Samurdhi Development Authority considering this village as a special project of "Gama Neguma."

The Cultural Affairs Ministry has decided to release a sum of Rs. 100,000 monthly, to conduct a cultural programme in the village.

The Adi Vasi Chief, Uruvarige Wanniyala Aththo received rupees one million from Cultural Affairs Minister, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardane for expenses during the next 10 months.

A school for the Dhambana Adi Vasi community was also opened by Basil Rajapaksa, MP who enrolled the first student.

In addition to the development projects launched by the Nation Building Ministry, some other projects have also been implemented by line ministries and other statuary organisations to uplift the village.

Birth and death anniversaries from June 7 - June 13

* June 7

Death of E. M. Forster, English novelist in 1970.

* June 9

Death of Charles Dickens, English novelist in 1870.

* June 11

Death of Sir John Franklin, British Antarctic explorer, in 1847.

* June 12

Birth of former President of America, George Bush (Senior) in 1924.

* June 13

Birth of Chandraratne Manawasinghe, Sinhala poet in 1913.

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Special events which took place in history, from June 7 - June 13

** June 7

The Jaffna Public Library was burnt down in 1981.

* June 8

Under martial law, the publication of Sinhala newspapers were banned in 1915.

* June 9

Margaret Thatcher re-elected as British Prime Minister in 1983.

* June 10

National Day of Portugal.

* June 12

Government decided to establish the Royal Botanical Gardens in 1812.

National Day of Philippines.

* June 13

Budusarana, the Sinhala weekly, launched by Lake House in 1965.

**The teacher of the school geography class was lecturing on map reading.

After explaining about latitude, longitude, degrees and minutes the teacher asked:

"Suppose I asked you to meet me for lunch at 23 degrees, 4 minutes north latitude and 45 degrees, 15 minutes east longitude...?"

After a confused silence, little Johnny volunteered - "I guess you'd be eating alone!"

**When is a well dressed lion like a weed?

When he's a dandelion (dandy lion)

**How does a lion greet the other animals in the field?

Pleased to eat you.

**What happened when the lion ate the comedian?

He felt funny!

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A young man went to the cinema the other day and in the front row was an old man and with him was his dog. It was a sad funny kind of film. In the sad part, the dog cried his eyes out, and in the funny part, the dog laughed its head off. This happened all the way through the film. After the film had ended, the young man decided to go and speak to the old man.

“That’s the most amazing thing I’ve seen,” I said. “That dog really seemed to enjoy the film.”

The man turned to me and said, “Yeah, it is. He hated the book.”

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Many school events proposed under 'Uthuru Vasanthaya'

by Ananda KANNANGARA

With the peaceful atmosphere prevailing in the country, after eliminating terrorism from our land, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha yesterday stressed the importance of re-uniting school children in Southern and Northern districts under the Government's 'Uthru Vasanthaya' programme.

Minister Premajayantha said the 'Uthuru Vasanthaya' program launched by the Presidential Secretariat would not only benefit school children in the North, but also citizens of all ages irrespective of caste, creed and religion.The Education Minister has appointed a team of officials to study the ongoing educational activities of children in the North and also the situation of other children who had to curtail their educational activities due to terrorism which prevailed for nearly three decades. "The Government's main intention is to provide education to all children alike," he said, pointing that the education of majority of children in the North has been disrupted.

He said in order to fulfil that objective, creating better living conditions for children is the primary need.

This would enable them to carry out their educational activities without any disruptions, he pointed out.

Accordingly, the Minister focused special attention towards the renovation of many damaged schools in the Northern and Eastern areas and the construction of new schools, assigning additional teachers to teach main subjects including English, Science, Mathematics and Information Technology.

"I have taken up the challenge of re-uniting the schoolchildren of Southern and Northern areas to fulfil this objective, I intend to organise cultural and social programmes which would pave the way for children from both Southern and Eastern provinces to take part in", he explained.

Minister Premajayantha has also planned to recommence sports events between schools in the South and North.

He recalled the days when children from Southern schools visited Northern schools and vice versa to take part in cricket, soccer and many other games.

Autistic children to be given special care

Some of you may have heard about autism, have siblings or friends affected by it or even be victims of it. There are many children in our country affected by autism who are in need of special care, especially at school.

The Non-formal and Special Education Unit of the Education Ministry has now taken measures to develop the educational standard of children suffering from autism, in the country.

In this direction, the Ministry has already taken steps to set up resource centres in several areas and special units in schools under the direction of Education Minister Susil Premjayantha, Director, Special Education Unit, M.P.N. Luxman said.

Teachers have been given necessary special training in this sphere while Maharagama Child Development Centre too is engaged in providing them with special education.

Children, despite their average intelligence level, have shown marked weaknesses in their conduct and routine behaviours due to this disease, claimed the officials of the unit.

World Autism Awareness Day was observed on April 2 and the Junior Observer featured an article giving specific characteristics of autism and the capabilities of autistic children in its March 29 issue.

Ranaviru Pranama

*A Ranaviru Memorial Hall is to be set up in the vicinity of the Anuradhapura Sacred City in memory of the Armed Forces personnel killed during the ethnic conflict.

Photographs with information of those killed would be exhibited in the hall which is proposed by Uttama Pooja Upahara Foundation.

*President Mahinda Rajapaksa proposed the naming of a national flower in honour of the valiant soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the Motherland. This will be the local version of the famous Poppy flower which is used to honour the soldiers who died in World War II.

*A Handloom Textile Training Centre will be set up in each Ranaviru Village to honour the war heroes, according to the Minister of Textile Industries Mahinda Ratnathilaka.

*On the instructions of Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa the Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order has decided to present a Medal of Honour as a token of appreciation of war heroes to their family members.

The public including Sri Lankan expatriates have been invited to submit designs for the medals to the 'Open design competition' on or before July 1. See details on the defence military website.(www.defence.lk)