Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2012-07-25

Construction Activities of the Programme of Developing 1000 Secondary Schools with a network of 5000 Primary Schools

- On the proposals made by Hon. Bandula Gunawardena, Minister of Education for the implementation of the above programme, with the view to providing better educational facilities to students throughout the country in keeping with the policy of the Government, Cabinet approval was granted for the following:

* to commence implementation of the above programme as decided upon by the Ministries of Finance and Planning; Economic Development; and Education, utilizing the sum of Rs.2500 million allocated for this programme in the 2012 budget;

* action be taken to provide electricity, water, sanitation facilities and attend to other renovation work, identified on a priority basis, in the selected schools, through School Development Societies;

* to provide science, computer, language, mathematics laboratories in identified secondary schools;

* to recruit sufficient number of teachers for subjects such as Mathematics, Science, English Language, Information Technology and Sports etc., for schools where vacancies occur and action to be taken to enhance training facilities for such teachers; and

* to entrust the construction works to suitable contractors in the respective areas selected on the recommendations of the respective District Secretaries and for the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) to provide the necessary consultancy services for these construction works.