A discussion on the implementation of a comprehensive national program with regulatory and educational solutions to protect children in Sri Lanka from cyber threats, online violence and negative impacts on their wellbeing was held in Parliament on July 21 under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.

In this special discussion organized with the participation of a multi-disciplinary working group of the Digital Education Task Force, there was consideration of how to balance ensuring access to the benefits of children’s digital participation with also safeguarding them from online harms.

As a number of countries around the world are discussing imposing age restrictions on children’s access to social media, there was a discussion of the complex process to introduce and enforce such bans - and the effectiveness of such measures to protect children from online harms. It was observed that in the first country to impose such a ban, a study found that 85% of children continued to use these platforms through other means. Potential unintended consequences of a ban were also discussed, including lost access to learning opportunities, increased use of risky platforms, loss of social connection and privacy risks for all users.

It was highlighted that a ’smart mix’ of multiple tools and strategies were recommended to effectively address the different types of harm that children faced, including grooming and exploitation, exposure to harmful content, disruption of sleep and compulsive online behaviours, and negative effects on development and mental wellbeing. These strategies included increased digital literacy and empowerment of parents as well as children, but also a focus on increasing accountability of online platforms, disabling addictive features and focusing on the implementation of ’Safety-by-design’ and effective responses to harm.

There was a discussion of the government’s commitment to following an evidence-informed approach and to cross-Ministerial cooperation for a comprehensive approach to child online safety and digital wellbeing.

In line with this process, there was also the presentation of draft school-level guidelines for online safety, cyber-security and digital wellbeing, for students, educators and parents. These have been developed drawing on international frameworks, national experience and existing Sri Lankan resource materials, with special attention to emerging risks and sources of harm. Following approval of the finalised guidelines by the appropriate bodies, they will be made available to schools nationwide with accompanying training and orientation for their implementation.

The event was attended by Minister of Digital Economic Affairs Eranga Weeraratne, Minister of Children and Women’s Affairs Saroja Savitri Paulraj, Deputy Minister of Education Dr. Madhura Seneviratne, Deputy Minister of Mass Media Dr. Kaushalya Ariyaratne, Secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri, Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa, Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economic Affairs, government officials and members of the Digital Education Task Force.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that while the public had, over the years, become disillusioned by the nature of debates and exchanges in the Parliamentary Chamber, that perception is now changing as Parliament’s committee system has emerged as a vital mechanism through which significant and meaningful work is carried out.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while participating in the Adjournment Debate in Parliament on 21 July.

Elaborating further, the Prime Minister noted that unfounded allegations made by Opposition Members of Parliament in the Chamber, without evidence or factual basis, have contributed to creating a negative public perception of Parliament. However, she emphasized that Parliamentary Committees are functioning actively to ensure financial oversight, prevent the misuse of public funds, and safeguard democratic governance.

She further highlighted the important role played by the Committee on Public Petitions, describing it as a valuable platform through which citizens who have been unable to obtain justice elsewhere can raise their grievances through their elected representatives and seek effective solutions.

The Prime Minister stressed that committee recommendations should be issued with clearly defined timeframes and that where such recommendations are not implemented, the relevant public officials should be summoned again for follow-up and accountability. She emphasized the need to strengthen this monitoring process.

The Prime Minister also stated that public officials appearing before Parliamentary Committees should not regard the process as an inconvenience or a burden. Instead, they must recognize it as a serious responsibility in upholding the value of the people’s vote and the proper use of taxpayers’ money.

She further noted that these committee proceedings help educate the public about the role of Parliament and elected representatives, whose work is funded by public tax revenue, while also fostering a broader public dialogue on how democracy functions in practice.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

A discussion was held on 21 July at the Parliament between Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and a delegation representing Battersea, one of the United Kingdom’s leading animal welfare organizations, together with the International Companion Animal Management Coalition (ICAM–UK), on implementing a more systematic and expedited national programme to eliminate rabies from Sri Lanka, ensure animal welfare, and manage the population of free-roaming animals.

During the discussion, the delegation emphasized the need to introduce the “No Dog Left Behind” approach, which aims to vaccinate the maximum possible number of dogs within a short period using a vaccine that provides protection for three years, instead of the existing target of achieving 70% vaccination coverage. Experts noted that this approach would significantly reduce the substantial expenditure currently incurred on Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) for rabies.

Attention was also drawn to addressing the shortage of veterinarians and administrative constraints by training and deploying vaccination teams through local government authorities.

The discussion further focused on initially implementing the programme in the Western Province before expanding it across the country, and on establishing a Presidential Task Force to oversee the initiative as a national priority and ensure its direct and efficient implementation.

Experts also highlighted the importance of using high-quality vaccines to successfully eliminate rabies, maintaining a secure vaccine cold chain, and ensuring effective monitoring by the central government.

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that both animal welfare and the elimination of rabies are priorities of the Government. The Prime Minister further noted that the Government is committed to resolving practical challenges and providing the necessary support to advance this national programme through the collective efforts of local government authorities, relevant ministries, and international organizations.

The meeting was attended by Dr. M. Ijas, Chief Veterinary Surgeon of the Colombo Municipal Council; Ms. Roxanne Sahar Nazir of Battersea; and, representing ICAM, Dr. Elaine Francisca Hiby, Dr. Eric Joseph Brum, and Mr. Patrick Gerard.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

මෙරට ආර්ථිකය අර්බුදයෙන් මිදී ඉදිරියට යමින් පවතින පසුබිමක, රටේ තිරසාර සංවර්ධනය තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහා කාර්යක්ෂම රාජ්‍ය අංශයක් මෙන්ම වගවීමෙන් යුතු කළමනාකරණ ගණකාධිකරණ පද්ධතියක් අත්‍යවශ්‍ය බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය හරිනි අමරසූරිය පැවසුවාය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා සහතික ලත් කළමනාකරණ ගණකාධිකාරී ආයතනය (CMA Sri Lanka) විසින් සංවිධානය කළ CMA ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික කළමනාකරණ ගිණුම්කරණ සමුළුව 2026 අමතමින් ජූලි 20 වන දින කොළඹ දී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමිය මේ බව සඳහන් කළාය.

“අර්බුදය, ස්ථාවරත්වය සහ වර්ධනය, කළමනාකරණ ගිණුම්කරණ කෝණයෙන්” (Crisis, Stability and Growth: A Management Accounting Lens) යන්න තේමා කර ගනිමින් මෙම සමුළුව ජූලි 20 සහ 21 යන දෙදින පුරා කොළඹ cinnamon Life හෝටලයේ දී පැවැත් විය.

සමාරම්භක උත්සවයේදි CMA ජාතික කළමනාකරණ ගිණුම්කරණ සමුළුවේ සඟරාව නිල වශයෙන් එළිදැක්වීමත්, ගිණුම්කරණ වෘත්තියේ වසර 50ක සේවයක් සම්පූර්ණ කළ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ වෘත්තිකයන් උදෙසා වන ’ස්වර්ණ ජයන්ති සම්මාන පිරිනැමීමත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමියගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් සිදු විය. රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් සඳහා CMA කළමනාකරණ ගිණුම්කරණ පාඨමාලාව හැදෑරීමට පූර්ණ ශිෂ්‍යත්ව 100ක් CMA Sri lanka ආයතනය මගින් රජය වෙත පිරිනැමීම ද මෙහිදි සිදු කෙරිණ.

’CMA Business Excellence Awards 2026’ සහ සුදුසුකම් ලත් සාමාජිකයින් උදෙසා වන ’Merit Awards’ සම්මාන ප්‍රදානයද මෙහිදී සිදු විය.

අනතුරුව අදහස් දැක් වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය හරිනි අමරසූරිය,

වර්තමාන ගෝලීය අස්ථාවරත්වය හමුවේ කළමනාකරණ ගණකාධිකරණය, හුදෙක් මුල්‍ය වාර්තාකරණයක් පමණක් නොවෙයි, රාජ්‍ය හා පෞද්ගලික දෙඅංශයේම නිවැරදි උපායමාර්ගික තීන්දු ගැනීමට උපකාරී වන ප්‍රධානතම මෙවලමක්.

රටේ ​ජනතාවගේ කැපවීම් සහ රජය ගත් දැඩි ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය තීරණ හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අද වන විට මුල්‍ය අර්බුදයෙන් සාර්ථකව ගොඩ එමින් තිබෙනවා. විශේෂයෙන්ම නිෂ්පාදන, සංචාරක සහ මුල්‍ය ක්ෂේත්‍රයන්හි ඇති වූ ප්‍රගතියත් සමඟ ලෝක බැංකුව විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නැවතත් ’ඉහළ මධ්‍ය ආදායම් ලබන ආර්ථිකයක් සහිත රටක් ලෙස වර්ගීකරණය කර තිබෙනවා. මෙම තත්ත්වය හමුවේ ආර්ථිකය තවදුරටත් ස්ථාවර කරගනිමින් තරඟකාරී සහ සබලසම්පන්න ආර්ථිකයක් ගොඩනැගීමේ අවස්ථාව රට හමුවේ තිබෙන අභියෝගයයි.

පසුගිය කාලසීමාව තුළ ඇතැම් රාජ්‍ය ආයතන සහ අමාත්‍යාංශ සිය වාර්ෂික මුල්‍ය ප්‍රකාශන හා විගණන වාර්තා ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබුණේ නැහැ. වත්මන් රජය සිදුකළ මැදිහත්වීම් හමුවේ එම වාර්තා යාවත්කාලීන කිරීමට පියවර ගත්තා. මින් ඉදිරියට නියමිත වේලාවට මුල්‍ය වාර්තා ලබා නොදෙන සහ නියමිත ප්‍රමිතීන් උල්ලංඝනය කරන සියලුම ආයතන හා නිලධාරීන්ට එරෙහිව නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනවා. රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලනය තුළ තීන්දු තීරණ ගත යුත්තේ පුද්ගලික න්‍යායපත්‍ර මත නොවෙයි. සාක්ෂි, දත්ත සහ විද්‍යාත්මක පදනම මතයි. ​වර්තමාන ගෝලීය අවශ්‍යතාවලට අනුකූලව සාම්ප්‍රදායික ගණකාධිකරණයේදී මගහැරෙන පාරිසරික හායනය සහ සමාජීය පිරිවැය ද සලකා බැලීම වැදගත් බව මම විශ්වාස කරනවා.

රජය ආරම්භ කළ නව අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ යටතේ උසස් පෙළ අංශයට වෘත්තීය පුහුණු පාඨමාලා සහ වසරක ආයතනික පුහුණුව (Internship) ඇතුළත් කිරීමට පියවර ගනිමින් තිබෙනවා. ඒ සඳහා රටේ පිලිගත් ආයතනවල, සංවිධානවල සහය රජයට අවශ්‍යයි.

ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණය සහ කෘතිම බුද්ධිය (AI) සමඟ පෙරට යන නව ලොවට ගැලපෙන සදාචාරාත්මක හා උපායමාර්ගික චින්තනයෙන් යුතු වෘත්තිකයන් බිහි කිරීමේදී CMA ආයතනය ඇතුළු වෘත්තීය ආයතන ලබාදෙන දායකත්වය අගය කරන බවද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමිය මෙහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළාය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සහ මාලදිවයිනේ කැනඩා මහකොමසාරිස් ඉසබෙල් මාටින් (Isabelle Martin) මහත්මිය, CPA Australia හි සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ඩේල් පින්ටෝ (Professor Dale Pinto), CMA Sri Lanka නිර්මාතෘ සහ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ලක්ෂ්මන් ආර් වටවල යන මහත්වරුන් ඇතුළු CMA Sri Lanka සාමාජික, සාමාජිකාවන්, දෙස් විදෙස් සම්භාවනීය අමුත්තන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that true leadership is not about titles or power, but about acting responsibly, with compassion, and working for the well being of the others.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while attending the President’s Guide Award and Prime Minister’s Award Ceremony, organized by the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association, one of the country’s leading voluntary organizations dedicated to empowering girls and young women. The ceremony was held on 19th July at Temple Trees in Colombo.

During the event, the Prime Minister presented medals and certificates to the award recipients.

A total of 350 awards were presented at this year’s ceremony, comprising 338 President’s Guide Awards and 12 Prime Minister’s Awards, in recognition of the recipients’ discipline, resilience, integrity, and commitment to serving others.

Addressing the occasion, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that one of the greatest strengths of the Girl Guides association is its commitment to providing equal opportunities to every child, regardless of their background or abilities. The Prime Minister also emphasized that true leadership is not defined by titles or power, but by acting responsibly, listening with compassion, and working for the well-being of others.

The Prime Minister further noted that while women had limited opportunities in the past, today increasing opportunities are being created for girls and women across all sectors, and young women are making remarkable progress in every field. The Prime Minister further stressed that every girl and young woman deserves equal opportunities to improve themselves, noting that the country needs young women leaders who are ready to step forward to build a better future for Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya also highlighted that, particularly at a time when Sri Lanka is undertaking significant economic and democratic reforms, achieving sustainable national progress requires not only economic growth but also the development of citizens who uphold strong ethical values and social responsibility. In this regard, she commended the invaluable contribution made by the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association.

Guided by its motto, ​“Be Prepared,” the Girl Guiding Movement in Sri Lanka was first established on 21 March 1917 at Kandy High School by Miss Jenny Calverley Green. Today, the movement operates through seven branches; Butterflies, the Little Friends, the Guides, the Rangers, the Youth, the Differently Abled Guides, and the Community Guiding Units, catering to different age groups and abilities. The President’s Guide Award is the highest honour that can be achieved by a Girl Guide and is awarded only to those who successfully complete the required challenges, written and oral examinations, and the BP Challenge. The Prime Minister’s Award is presented as the highest recognition within the Ranger Guide section.

The event was attended by at the President of the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association Swarnika Pitigala, Chief Commissioner Dr. Kushantha Herath, President’s Guide Commissioner Pushpa Perera, Prime Minister’s Guide Commissioner Aruni Karunaratne, other senior officials of the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association, President’s Guides and Prime Minister’s Guides, as well as a large number of their parents.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya today commended the Ceylon Moor Ladies Union (CMLU) for its remarkable 90 years of dedicated service to Sri Lanka, describing the organisation as a shining example of compassion, women’s empowerment, and community leadership that has transformed countless lives across generations.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing the 90th Anniversary Celebration of the Ceylon Moor Ladies Union, held today (18) at Hotel Ramada, Colombo.

Congratulating the Ceylon Moor Ladies Union on reaching this significant milestone, the Prime Minister noted that few voluntary organisations have sustained nine decades of continuous service while remaining true to their founding mission and adapting to the changing needs of society. She said the occasion was not merely a celebration of an institution’s history, but a tribute to the children whose lives have been transformed, the women whose dedication has sustained the organisation, and the communities that have been strengthened through its work.

Emphasising that the progress of a nation is closely linked to the meaningful participation of women, Dr. Amarasuriya stated that empowering women to participate equally in education, the economy, community leadership, and public life is fundamental to sustainable development, stronger families, and a more resilient society. She reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to ensuring that every woman has the opportunity to realise her full potential through equal access to quality education, healthcare, economic opportunities, and leadership.

The Prime Minister further highlighted that effective welfare extends beyond immediate assistance and must empower individuals through education, skills development, protection, and opportunities that enable them to build secure and dignified lives. She reiterated the Government’s commitment to strengthening welfare systems that protect vulnerable communities while creating pathways for empowerment and independence.

Recognising the invaluable role of civil society, Dr. Amarasuriya observed that while governments formulate policies and deliver public services, many social challenges require the compassion, commitment, and volunteer spirit of community organisations. She noted that partnerships between government institutions and organisations such as the Ceylon Moor Ladies Union contribute significantly to improving child protection, strengthening families, and building more resilient communities.

Paying tribute to generations of members of the Ceylon Moor Ladies Union, the Prime Minister praised their unwavering commitment to nurturing young women of character, instilling resilience and confidence, and fostering leadership grounded in compassion and responsibility. She observed that these qualities are essential as Sri Lanka continues its journey towards sustainable development, inclusive growth, and national reconciliation.

During the event, the commemorative souvenir marking the 90th Anniversary of the Ceylon Moor Ladies Union was officially launched and presented to Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. Commemorative gifts were also exchanged to mark the occasion.The event was attended by Deputy Speaker Dr. Rizvie Salih, Minister of Women and Child Affairs Ms. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Governor of the Western Province Hanif Yousuf, Mayor of Colombo Vraie Cally Balthazar, ambassadors, office-bearers and members of the Ceylon Moor Ladies Union, distinguished guests, children, and invitees.

Prime Minister’s Media Division