Sri Lankan kids set world record during first wave of pandemic by writing 43,000 books

Schoolchildren in Sri Lanka had disproved the claim that the present-day children neither wrote nor read by writing a staggering 43,000 books during the pandemic period so far, Power and Energy Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said.

Alahapperuma, who was the Minister in Charge of Education during the Covid-19 first wave, took the initiative to encourage school children to write books, a concept that was backed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, teachers and principals.

Alahapperuma said that there were 4.3 million children in the Lankan school system. Private schools, pirivenas, international schools total up to five million children.

“One out of every 100 children has written a book, and this must be a world record, and Library Services could further strengthen the mission.” the Minister said.

Plans were underway to post 10,000 books online in e-book format.

“This should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. What makes it even more special is that these books were written at a time when the world was in a state of panic. This is the only record during the Covid plague that one does not want to forget.”

(Source: The Island – By Ifham Nizam)