All children must attend school

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The Child Development and Women’s Affairs Ministry said that Government schools in the country are open for any child irrespective of caste, creed or religion to have a free education and strictly warned parents to send their children to schools without deploying them in various other activities.

According to a survey, some children of school-going age do not attend school and their parentstoo have not taken any interest to send them to school.

Child Development and Women’s Affairs Minister Tissa Karalliyadda told the Junior Observer that parents should pay special attention towards their children who neglect their school education and said that it is the sole responsibility of parents to encourage children in their education.

The Minister said it is pathetic to see children who should be attending school sbeing employed as domestics or in other similar employment due to various personal reasons.

He said their steps will be taken against such children and parents in the future.

Minister Karalliyadda also paid attention to beggars who use children to collect money and said organised child begging too must be stopped.

He said begging at public places must be stopped immediately for the sake of both innocent children and the general public who face untold hardships.“I have already advised relevant authorities to enforce the law with severe punishment on those who lure or force children into begging.”

Dangamalla to be staged with a new cast

Dangamalla, the Sinhala adaptation of Enid Blyton’s celebrated children’s book The naughtiest girl in school will be staged once again from January 28 by its director Nalaka Swarnatilleke with a new cast of 20 girls and boys representing 12 schools. Nelisa Algama, a student of Good Shepherd Convent plays the main character Elizabeth Alan which was played earlier by Natasha Perera. The adult roles will be played by Kusum Renu, Morin Charuni, Ramani Siriwardena, Nilmini Sigera and Sanjeewa Upendra.

The Muhurath ceremony of the new production was held recently at the Nalaka Swarnatilleke Performing Arts Institute and the first show will be held at the Lionel Wendt Theatre on January 28 at 6.00 p.m.

The stage play which became a huge success in 2003 bagging many awards at the State Children’s Drama Festival, including the Best Actress Award, was subsequently made into a popular teledrama in 2006.

The story is very interesting. Elizabeth, a very naughty little girl, is always playing pranks on her governess. None of them stay for long as a result. As her parents always travel to different countries while she stays back with a governess, they eventually decide to send her away to a boarding school.

Elizabeth makes a big hue and cry about it, but no one listens or sympathizes with her stubborn behaviour. She ultimately has to go to Whyteleafe boaring school. She tries to be in her worst behaviour, so that the school will send her back home, but her wishes soon change...”

- Manjula

Winners of ‘hSenid Inspires 2012’ art competition rewarded

The winners of an art competition titled ' hSenid Inspires2012 " organised by hSenid Software Interrnational to select drawings for this year's calendar (distributed globally to over 24 countries and 18 industries ) were rewarded at a special ceremony held recently. The competiton organised to mark 15 years in the ICT industry was open to the children of their clients' employees and comprised four categories;"Earth, my only home. Let's prtotect it " for the 14-15 year olds, "My world when I am 21" for the 12-13 year olds , "How I respect my elders," for the 10- 11 year old category and "The day I enjoyed the most, " for the 8-9 year old category.

From among the many number of entries received from all parts of the country as well as from countries like Singapore, Kenya and Nigeria, the following were selected as the winners by the panel of judges comprising experts in the field including Sibil Weththasinghe.

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Winners ;

14-15 category - Lasmitha Samaraweera from Kandy,
2-13 category - Ilma Iqbal from Negombo,
10-11 category - Tharindu Jayatissa from Kegalle
8-9 category - Enuk Dabare from Borelasgamuwa.

“Earth, my only home.Let's prtotect it’’ -Lasmitha Samaraweera	“How I respect my elders’’ - Tharindu Jayatissa
“The day I enjoyed the most’’ - Enuk Dabare	“My world when I am 21’’ - Ilma Iqbal