Press Release on the Parliamentary Caucus for the evolution of the Malaiyaga Plantation Community

The program of handing over the land where plantation schools are located to those schools discussed at the Parliamentary Caucus for the evolution of the Malaiyaga Plantation Community.

The program of handing over the ownership of the land where the estate sector schools are located was discussed in the Parliamentary Caucus for the evolution of the Malaiyaga Plantation Community. This was discussed when the caucus met in Parliament recently (10) under the chairmanship of Member of Parliament Hon. Velu Kumar.

Officials representing the Ministry of Education, Provincial Education Department, Plantation Management Monitoring Division, Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation, Janatha Estates Development Board, Elkaduwa Plantation Ltd and Land Reform Commission participated in this meeting.

The chairman pointed out that the program of handing over the lands where the estate schools are located to the schools has made significant progress with the intervention of the caucus. It was agreed here that the Ministry of Education and the Provincial Education Departments should complete the data on the number of estate sector schools in Sri Lanka, the amount of land required for those schools and the number of schools with specific land requirements etc. by the coming week and to confirm the accuracy of the said data. The chair mentioned that the relevant land surveying activities can then be started.

It was also discussed to change the cabinet decision given to maximum 02 acres of land for estate-sector schools and present a new cabinet paper so that the extent of land can be given to each school based on the need.

Apart from that, the officers also explained about the provision of 60 smart classrooms for estate schools in Sri Lanka based on loan assistance from the Indian High Commission, as well as the provision of 800 smart television sets and smart boards under the said assistance.

Also, there was a lengthy discussion about the shortage of teachers in estate schools, and the lack of schools where students can study Advanced Level in mathematics and science streams.

Opposition Leader Hon. Sajith Premadasa, Members of Parliament Hon. Sujith Sanjay Perera, Hon. J. C. Alawathuwala, Hon. Ashok Abeysinghe, Hon. Selvaraja Kajendran, Hon. Rohini Wijeratne and Hon. V. Radhakrishnan were present in the meeting.