Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma has stressed that a better political culture is needed to keep the young generation to engage and interact with country’s political issues.

He made the observation while addressing the House on Friday, January 21. He was concluding the Second Day of the Debate on the Statement of the Government Policy by the President in Parliament at the Ceremonial Opening of the Second Session of the 9th Parliament held on Tuesday (18).

Minister Alahapperuma said:

“The public in general has a bad impression on the number 225, just like in Western culture where number 13 is considered an ill-omen. We need to accept that reality and address this matter without party politics. We need to make a collective effort to ensure the honour of this House. In general, people say that we are good at pointing fingers at each other.

The new generation will drift away from us. If we are pointing fingers at something, it should only be at the future of this country. As public representatives, we all need to develop this image. The Government under the leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, while following the Policy Statement, ensured the safety of our people during the pandemic. Many groups and individuals, under the guidance of President Rajapaksa, were committed to fight this pandemic.

According to the World Tourism Council, Sri Lanka is one of the safest countries to visit. The main reason for that is the success of our vaccination programme. It is true that we are going through a crisis. We are suffering from it because we prioritized consumerism over industrialization. The COVID-19 pandemic has enlarged this crisis. Even within a crisis, the Government took some impressive measures. We took steps to streamline the Early Childhood Education and we are going to give priority to STEM subjects in school curricula.

The President's Policy Statement looks to include IT and English in every course in the University Education System. Highlighting the importance of implementing the concept of National Schools, President said that at least one Divisional Secretariat or one National School should be included and special attention should be paid to the Northern Province.

There is a serious problem in education in the Northern Province. More than 50 per cent of the teachers in the Northern Province are untrained and there was not a single national school in at least 20 Divisional Secretariat Divisions.”