මෙම අර්බුදය තුළදී ද අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවා, රාජ්‍ය සේවා හා කර්මාන්ත අඛණ්ඩ ව පවත්වා ගැනීම අපගේ අරමුණයි.ජනතා සුබසාධන වෙනුවෙන් ජනතාවට දුන් පොරොන්දු ඉටුකිරීමට සහය වන ලෙස විපක්ෂය තුලින් ද ඉල්ලා සිටිනබව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය හරිනි අමරසූරිය මාර්තු 19 දින පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී ප්‍රකාශ කළාය.

එහිදී එතුමිය පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වී රාධා ක්‍රිෂ්ණන් මන්ත්‍රීතුමා මතුකළ ප්‍රශ්නයට පිළිතුරු ලෙස මලයගම් ප්‍රජාවගේ අධ්‍යාපනය තුළ ගැටලු ගණනාවක් පවතින අතර ගුරු පුරප්පාඩු ඒ අතර විශේෂ බව දැක්වී ය.ඒ අතරින් අධිකරණ තීන්දුව ප්‍රකාරව ගුරු පුරප්පාඩු සදහා 23000 කට වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් බදවාගත් බව සදහන් කළා ය.අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ දිස්ත්‍රික් ගැටලු පිළිබඳ සාකච්ඡාවල දී එම කරුණු මතුකර කඩිනම් විසඳුම් ලබා දීමට කටයුතු කරන බව ද පැවසීය.

තවදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරිය මෙසේ ද සඳහන් කළාය:

“මූලික වශයෙන් රටේ වර්තමාන තත්වය හා අපට රටක් වශයෙන් මුහුණදීමට ඇති ගැටලු පිළිබඳ අවධානය යොමු කළ යුතුයි.ගෝලීය වසංගතයකින් පසු ආර්ථික අර්බුදයකට මුහුණ දී දේශපාලන අර්බුදයකට ද අනතුරුව නැවත වතාවක් හුස්ම ගැනීමට පටන් ගත් අවස්ථාවක මෙම වර්තමාන තත්වය උද්ගත වී ඇත.එහිදී වගකිව යුතු විපක්ෂයක කාර්යභාරය පිළිබදව ඔවුන් ගැඹුරින් කල්පනා කළ යුතුයි.අවාසනාවකට විපක්ෂ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් බලය ලබාගැනීම අරමුණු කරමින් ආණ්ඩුව පෙරලීමේ නිරර්ථක උත්සාහයක නිරත වෙමින් සිටියි.ආණ්ඩුවේ නොහැකියාවන් හා රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික බවෙහි ව්‍යාජ දුර්වලතා මවා පාමින් ජනතාව තුළ අනවශ්‍ය බියක් ජනිත කිරීම ඔවුන් අඛණ්ඩව සිදුකරමින් සිටියි.

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය හරහා ප්‍රතිපත්ති ඉදිරිපත් කර ජනතා විශ්වාසය දිනාගන්නවා වෙනුවට, රට විනාශ මුඛයට ඇදී ගියද කෙසේ හෝ බලය උදුරා ගැනීමේ උත්සාහයක විපක්ෂය නිරත වන බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරිය පෙන්වා දුන්නාය. රට බංකොලොත් භාවයට පත් කළ සහ ආර්ථිකය අස්ථාවර කළ පාර්ශ්වයන්ම, ජනතාව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදීව තෝරාගත් ආණ්ඩුව පෙරළා දැමීමට කුමන්ත්‍රණය කරන්නේ පසුගිය පාලන කාලයන්හි එල්ල වූ චෝදනා සහ විමර්ශනවලින් ගැලවීමට බව ද අවධාරණය කළාය.

තත්ත්වය පාලනය කරනු වෙනුවට අර්බුදය උත්සන්න කිරීමට විපක්ෂය මාන බලන බවත්, ඇතැම් අවස්ථාවලදී ඔවුන්ගේ පටු දේශපාලන න්‍යාය පත්‍ර නිසා රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික සබඳතාවලට පවා හානි වන අන්දමේ ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් වන බවත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරිය වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසුවාය.

නැවත බලය අවශ්‍ය නම් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී මාවත ඔස්සේ මැතිවරණ තුලින් ජනතාව ඉදිරියේ විශ්වාසය දිනාගෙන බලය ලබාගැනීම කලයුතු බවද ඇතිවී තිබෙන ඉන්ධන අර්බුදය ආණ්ඩුවේ නොහැකියාව බව පෙන්වීමේ නිරර්ථක උත්සාහයක නිරත නොවිය යුතු බවත්, වත්මන් ඉන්ධන අර්බුදය ලොව පුරා පවතින යුදමය වාතාවරණයේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් බවත්, එය ආණ්ඩුවේ නොහැකියාවක් ලෙස පෙන්වීමට උත්සාහ කිරීම නිරර්ථක බවත් සඳහන් කළාය. මැදපෙරදිග යුද ගැටුම් ආරම්භ වී දින විස්සක් වැනි කෙටි කාලයක් තුළ රජය නිවැරදි තීන්දු තීරණ රැසක් ගත් බවත්, ඒ හේතුවෙන් දකුණු ආසියාවේ ඉන්ධන මිල අඩුවෙන්ම සංශෝධනය වූ රට බවට ලංකාව පත් වූ බවත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරිය පැවසුවාය.

තවදුරටත් අදහස් දක්වමින්:

“තෙල් සැපයුමේ යම් අඩුවීමක් ඉදිරියේදී බලාපොරොත්තු විය හැකි බව සත්‍යයකි. එබැවින් ඉන්ධන පරිභෝජනය කළමනාකරණය සඳහා QR කේත ක්‍රමය හඳුන්වා දුන්නා. එම ක්‍රමය තවදුරටත් විධිමත් කරමින් අක්‍රමිකතා අවම කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. මෙම අර්බුදය හමුවේ වුවද අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවා, රාජ්‍ය සේවා හා කර්මාන්ත අඛණ්ඩව පවත්වා ගැනීම අපගේ අරමුණයි. ජනතා සුබසාධනය වෙනුවෙන් අප ලබා දුන් පොරොන්දු ඉටු කිරීමට සහය වන ලෙස විපක්ෂයෙන් ද ඉල්ලා සිටියාය.”

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

Steps have been taken to monitor the progress of the new education reform process introduced for Grade one.

It was emphasized at the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Education Reforms that actions are taken to initiate educational reforms for Grade 6 in 2027, and that steps have been taken to monitor the progress of the new education reform process of Grade one.

The Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Education Reforms gathered on the 17 th of March at Parliament under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.

During the meeting, discussions were held on the current progress of the new education reform process and the way forward.

During the meeting, the Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Nalaka Kaluwewa stated that monitoring of the progress of the new education reform process introduced for Grade 1 in 2026 will be carried out in the future. He further noted that activity-based textbooks for the second and third school terms of Grade 1 are currently being prepared for printing, and that practical activity books for the second term are planned to be distributed to students after the school vacation in April.

Officials also emphasized that under the new education reforms, teacher training and training of trainers are currently being carried out, and that all modules relevant to Grade 6 are being thoroughly reviewed by specialized committees.

A special committee, with the participation of international experts, has been appointed to obtain recommendations on evaluation and assessment. It was also revealed that these experts are expected to visit Sri Lanka in the near future. Furthermore, following the instructions of the President, a Cabinet paper has been submitted to establish a National Steering Committee on Education, and steps will be taken to appoint district- and divisional-level steering committees in due course.

The meeting was attended by the Members of both the Government and the Opposition, along with officials from the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the government’s objective is to ensure the environment for the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption to function as an independent body, without influence from anyone, including Members of Parliament and Ministers.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while participating in the debate on the interim resolution concerning the determination of salaries and service conditions of the officers and employees of the Commission under the Anti-Corruption Act.

The Prime Minister stated:

Honourable Speaker, I consider the proposal presented today on determining the remuneration and service conditions of the officers and employees of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption to be highly important. Although the Anti-Corruption Act was passed in 2023, we only began to truly feel the presence of an active Commission from 2025.

Since then, we have had to experience a number of challenges in operationalizing the Commission. In particular, there were several obstacles, including limitations in recruiting officers, which hindered the Commission from functioning as required. It was necessary to establish several practical conditions, such as granting the Commission the freedom to determine allowances for its staff, to formulate the rules and regulations required for its operations, to recruit personnel, and to submit budget estimates relevant to its annual plans. At the time the new Director General assumed duties, there were over 4,000 investigation files within the Commission where investigations had been completed but cases had not yet been filed. Moreover, there were only about 31 legal officers.

Follow the adoption of this proposal, the Commission will be granted the authority to recruit officers, determine necessary allowances, and make independent decisions regarding financial matters. This will enable the Commission to effectively fulfill its intended mandate. This proposal plays a significant role in building a new political culture in our country, one that is anti-corruption and committed to a transparent public service that is free from bribery.

Further commenting, the Prime Minister also addressed the country’s response to the ongoing global energy crisis.

In the current global context, our economy and energy sector are facing multiple challenges. These conditions are constantly evolving and difficult to predict. However, it is our responsibility as a government to recognize these changes and manage their impact on our economy.

Following that, the Cabinet has decided yesterday to appoint four special committees. Accordingly, one committee will focus on ensuring the uninterrupted provision of essential services to the public; while other will make decisions on maintaining public services through energy management within the public sector; a third will work with the Procurement Commission to identify new methods of energy procurement in addition to existing mechanisms; and a fourth will examine the social impacts arising from this situation, including its effects on vulnerable groups, and recommend fair solutions, relief measures, and welfare services.

This is a situation that we, as a country, must face collectively. The public service, the private sector, the political leadership regardless of party differences and the people of our country must come together to overcome this, just as we have faced previous challenges. We are confident that, we will be able to successfully face this situation through proper leadership and management, and by making timely decisions.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the freedom had long been limited to only a privileged segment of society, and that the government’s objective is to create opportunities for all citizens to equally experience and enjoy that freedom.

The Prime Minister made these remarks on the 15th of March while opening the multi-purpose development project associated with the Angunakolapelessa Tank, developed under the “Pohosath Gamak” programme of the Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment for public.

In parallel with the multi-purpose development project carried out associating the Angunakolapelessa Leisure Island, a boating facility and the Leisure Island cafeteria were also officially opened.

Addressing the gathering further, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated:

The multi-purpose development project associated with the Angunakolapelessa Tank has received voluntary support from the community for more than 700 days. It is extremely significant in this regard. With the funding from the Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment, the Angunakolapelessa Pradeshiya Sabha, together with divisional councils, public safety committees, youth societies, trade associations, and many others in the community, was able to transform this site into a major development project within a remarkably short period of time.

This project serves as a powerful example of what can be achieved when people unite collectively for a noble purpose. Developing a country is not a task that the government alone can accomplish.

When intellectuals, religious leaders, youth, entrepreneurs, and the public come together with strong and responsible leadership, we can build a nation so resilient that no hostile force will be able to weaken it.

People in rural communities who live demanding and hardworking lives also deserve to enjoy freedom. For a long time, freedom was limited to only a privileged segment of society. As a government committed to fostering a dignified cultural life for all citizens, it is important to create more spaces like this where people can relax, walk, enjoy themselves, and spend time with peace of mind.

The occasion was graced by the presence of the members of the Maha Sangha, and attended by the Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment Upali Pannilage, other ministers and parliamentarians, government officials, and local residents.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

When appointments or transfers are granted, accept the appointments and assume duties at the respective stations

Utilize the funds allocated for 2026 properly for school development projects

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that school events should be organized in a manner that does not place a financial burden on parents. She also emphasized that when appointments or transfers are granted, they should be accepted and duties should be assumed at the respective stations, while further noting that the funds allocated for the year 2026 should be properly utilized for school development activities.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing discussions held on 15 th of March to brief teachers and principals from the Hambantota, Tangalle, and Walasmulla education zones regarding the new education reforms.

Speaking further, the Prime Minister stated:

In 2027, new education reforms will be introduced for Grade 6 and Grade 2. A committee has already been appointed to facilitate the inclusion of students currently in Grade 6 into the new education reforms. Future actions will be taken based on the recommendations of this committee.

Measures are already underway to improve school infrastructure, classroom development, and education reforms. Plans are being implemented to maintain 25–30 students per class in the primary section and up to 35 students in secondary classes. Students should not be admitted to schools outside the provisions of the relevant circulars under any circumstances.

When developing classrooms, the Engineering Division is currently preparing plans to ensure that they are suitable for practical and activity-based learning.

Certain issues in schools can be resolved at the Provincial Council and Local Government levels. We have proposed that improvements be carried out with proper quality standards from sanitation facilities to other renovations. Funds were allocated for school development in both 2025 and 2026. Structured committees should prepare systematic plans and submit them to the District Development Committee for approval. The allocated funds must be properly used for school development activities.

By 2026, arrangements will be made to provide smart boards and internet facilities to every school. Money should not be collected from parents for this purpose. Every school has an annual plan and a budget approved for that plan. Therefore, schools should not collect additional funds from parents beyond the approved allocations. In particular, school events must be organized in a way that does not impose a burden on parents.

For many years, teacher and principal vacancies have not been properly filled, which has created numerous issues. Following the conclusion of related legal proceedings, steps are now being taken to recruit over 23,000 individuals to the teaching service in a formal manner. The relevant examinations are scheduled to be held towards the end of April or the beginning of May.

Vacancies for principal service have already been gazetted. However, the number of applications received has been very limited. We understand that there are concerns regarding salary issues in the principal service, as well as broader salary disparities. Proposals regarding these matters are being submitted to the Salary Commission. At the same time, some individuals who demand teacher appointments through protests are unwilling to accept the appointments or transfers once they are granted. While we understand that there may be personal difficulties, individuals should first accept the appointment and assume duties. There is a misconception that political intervention can help secure a preferred location, which has contributed to the crisis in the education sector.

Some individuals remain in the same school as Deputy Principals without applying for principal vacancies. This should not happen. The principal service is a dignified profession. To enhance professional recognition, a report is currently being prepared through the Parliamentary Education Council to be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers.

Regarding infrastructure development, proposals have been made for structural committees to forecast the conditions in each division and submit development plans accordingly.

The Prime Minister further emphasized that when addressing issues related to students, authorities should not wait for national policy decisions but instead work at the divisional and provincial levels to provide prompt solutions.

The occasion was attended by the Deputy Minister of Lands and Irrigation Aravinda Senarath, Members of Parliament Nihal Galappaththi and Athula Welandagoda, along with provincial and zonal education officials, principals, teachers, and participants.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that a new curriculum will be introduced for preschools in 2027, while steps will also be taken to train teachers accordingly and to regulate preschools through a regulatory authority.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing an awareness programme for preschool teachers in the Hambantota District on education reforms, held today (15) at the Ambalantota Pradeshiya Sabha Auditorium.

During the programme, preschool teachers briefed on the Prime Minister about the challenges they currently face. Responding to their concerns, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya further stated:

The issues within the preschool system cannot be discussed separately from the broader crisis in society and in the education sector. When we assumed the office in 2024, our primary challenge was to free the country from its debt burden and to establish sound economic indicators.

Although 2025 was a challenging year, we were able to bring the country’s economy to a certain level of stability and manage the national budget accordingly.

While we were working towards economic recovery, the war in the Middle East began, which has had certain impacts on our country as well. A significant amount of Sri Lanka’s foreign remittances come from our fellow citizens working in the Middle East. Today, both their livelihoods and employment are under threat. In addition, a large number of tourists travelled to Sri Lanka through Middle Eastern airspace, and the closure of those air routes and airports has reduced tourist arrivals. Another issue concerns fuel transportation. This problem has affected not only Sri Lanka but many countries around the world. If the war continues for a long period, it will have further impacts on us, and therefore we must be prepared. We also need to manage the economy carefully and reduce certain expenditures.

Although we have the ability to borrow, our intention is not to weaken the country’s economy by relying on loans.

You are aware that we have begun implementing education reforms. Within that policy framework, we are also taking steps to reform preschool education. So far, the establishment of preschools and early childhood development has not been carried out in a systematic manner. Therefore, we must regulate and standardize all preschools, which is not an easy task. First, all preschools must be formally registered. We have already prepared a curriculum for teacher training. In addition, we plan to introduce a new curriculum for preschools in 2027, provide teacher training accordingly, and regulate preschools through a regulatory authority. A recognized curriculum has also been prepared for the preschool diploma. In the future, priority for preschool teachers will be given based on these qualifications. We will also take gradual steps to enhance the professionalism of preschool teachers and establish a proper salary structure

The Prime Minister further stated that preschools fall under the authority of Provincial Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas, while the line ministry can only provide policy recommendations. She also emphasized that issues related to preschools should be addressed in a systematic manner through structural committees and District Development Committees.

The occasion was attended by the Member of Parliament Nihal Galappaththi and other public representatives, along with preschool teachers from the Hambantota District.

Prime Minister’s Media Division