SLBFE will increase schols to schoolchildren

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) will increase the number of scholarships granted annually for schoolchildren of migrant workers from this year.

Under the Bureau's annual scholarship scheme, schoolchildren who pass the Grade Five Government examination, the GCE Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level examinations are currently receiving Rs. 15,000, Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 30,000 respectively.

Foreign Employment Promotion Minister Dilan Perera told the Junior Observer that more funds will have to be allocated when the number of scholarships offered by the Bureau is increased to benefit more children.

He said the Government spends colossal sums of money annually to improve the education standard of children in the country.

The Minister said in addition to these scholarships the Bureau will also award scholarships to school- leavers of migrant workers who are interested in following job oriented technical courses and English and Information Technology courses.

Referring to the scholarship awarding programme, conducted by the Bureau at Moneragala recently, Minister Perera said that conducting programmes of this nature will help the children of migrant workers to pursue higher studies and be the partners of the country's future economic development activities.

Minister Dilan Perera also highlighted the contribution being made by Sri Lanka's expatriate workers to swell the country's economy and said that these workers should be treated as the economy developing heroes' of our time."Unlike in the past, where we earned most of the foreign exchange only from tea, rubber and coconut, today the field of foreign employment has become the country's biggest foreign exchange earner. So, it is our duty to look after the children of these migrant workers," he added.

Southern Express Railway commences operations

The newly developed 42 kilometre high speed railway line between Galle and Matara commenced operations on February 16. The railway line has been renovated to operate trains at a speed of 100 kilometres per hour reducing travel time.

The programme to develop the coastal railway line from Matara to Maradana was launched with Indian financial assistance. In the old track trains could only operate at speeds of 40km per hour.

The high-speed Southern Railway line project from Matara to Colombo Fort, was launched on August 1, 2010.The line from Galle to Matara has been completed as the first phase. Meanwhile, the second phase of the project will be carried out from Galle to Hikkaduwa. The third phase is from Hikkaduwa to Kalutara. The final phase is to develop the railway line from Kalutara to Maradana.

The project carried out with a loan from the Indian government is estimated to cost over 167.40 million US dollars ."The work on phase-II of the project from Galle to Kalutara has already commenced and will be completed early next year," Department sources said.

After completion the Matara-Colombo trains will take a very short period of time, about two hours to reach the destinations, department officials said.

-RJ

[ NEWS IN BRIEF]

by Rohana JAYALAL
 

Meteorology Department to be modernised

The Disaster Management Ministry is to seek funds from the Government to upgrade the country's outdated Meteorology Department. The natural disasters that were experienced in the past few weeks have prompted the Department and the Ministry to pay urgent attention to the modernisation of the Meteorology Department.

Disaster Management Minister, Mahinda Amaraweera, will submit a Cabinet paper seeking Rs. 1.2 billion to modernise the Meteorology Department.

The modernisation programme is aimed at upgrading the standards of the department to international levels.

The funds are to be used mainly to purchase hi-tech equipment for the department.

Respiratory ailments due to dry weather

As a result of the dry weather conditions prevalent in the country, a threat of respiratory ailments has emerged, Colombo Municipal Council sources said.

This situation was due to the increase in pollutants in the atmosphere owing to dry weather, said Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the Colombo Municipal Council, Ruwan Vijayamuni He said that schoolchildren and street hawkers were the most affected by those problems.

Nutrition and health care as school subjects

The Government has focused its attention on including subjects pertaining to food, nutrition and health care into the school syllabus, Ministry of Health sources said.

The decision had been taken to include these subjects to the school curriculum after taking into consideration the high prevalence of diabetes, blindness and malnutrition among schoolchildren. The Ministry said that discussions had already been held with the National Institute of Education and the Minister of Education, Bandula Gunawardena in this regard.

Obeying road rules, a must

The laws against pedestrians who violate road rules will be strictly enforced with immediate effect, Sri Lanka Police Department sources said. Accordingly, the police will fine or produce the offenders before court.

Police have requested the public to use pedestrian crossings to cross roads and to obey traffic signals for pedestrians when crossing roads. Traffic police sources say that most Sri Lankans are extremely careless about road rules . Not using the pedestrian crossings and walking on the wrong side of the roads causes many accidents and traffic congestion. Sri Lanka police are now enforcing traffic laws strictly against motorists too.

Turtle conservation programmes

The turtle conservation programmes launched by the Sea Turtle Conservation Centre at Athuruwella in Induruwa will be used to promote the tourist Industry in the country.

Many such programmes are already under way at the Sea Turtle Conservation Centre at Athuruwella in Induruwa, Bentota. Tourists residing in hotels around Bentota will be invited to release the hatchlings at the centre. More than 150 tourists had participated in the programme recently.