20 TV channels for education

Up to 20 dedicated TV channels will be set up to facilitate online education to overcome the problems faced by children in online education during school closures during the pandemic, said Minister of Mass Media and Information, Cabinet Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella.

Under this programme, which is being implemented jointly by the Ministry of Mass Media and the Ministry of Education, 13 channels from Grade One to Grade 13 and two channels dedicated to Pirivena education will be initially launched, he said. This was revealed by the minister during a scholarship awarding ceremony held at the Kundasale Divisional Secretariat yesterday where 185 children in the Kundasale Electorate received scholarships.

Parallel to the Samurdhi Saubhagya program, financial assistance of Rs. 1,500.00 per person per month for education for a period of two years is provided to A/L students. Accordingly, a one-time financial assistance of Rs. 15000 was provided to the children for a period of 10 months. It is planned to provide a sum of Rs. 2,775,000 for this scholarship program.

He said the current global pandemic could continue for another two years and that it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that children’s education was not disrupted, adding that education was the backbone of a country. The Minister said that although the online education programme is being implemented at present, children in some areas are suffering due to the lack of telephone signals and the problem can be solved by bringing educational programmes to the living room through television channels. He emphasized that these channels would provide opportunities for children deprived of e-learning opportunities to receive education from the country’s most popular teachers.

(Source: Daily News – By Asela Kuruluwansa)