Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2020-06-10

Purchase of School Uniform Materials - 2021

- The Ministry of Education has been continuously providing free school uniform materials to the students of the Government schools and Government aided schools and also to the student bhikkus and lay students of Government approved pirivenas, since 1993. Instead of providing uniform materials, a system of providing gift vouchers has been implemented for this purpose during the period from 2015-2020.

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic prevailing in the country, the export income has been reduced and therefore, it has been found appropriate to produce school uniforms locally by encouraging local textile manufacturers, taking into consideration that the cost of foreign exchange to be incurred for the purpose is also very high. Accordingly, Cabinet approval was granted to provide uniform materials in future instead of granting vouchers and to obtain required stock of uniform materials from the local textile manufactures that are registered under the Ministry of Industry and Supply Chain Management.