Cabinet nod to extend stationary allowance for non-Aswesuma beneficiary students via voucher

Wednesday, 8 January 2025 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Recognising the need to include vulnerable groups not identified under the Aswesuma, the Cabinet of Ministers on Monday approved a broader distribution plan to arrange stationery allowance in the form of a voucher.

The move comes amid absence of an updated database to identify eligible students from non-Aswesuma families.

Under the latest arrangement, the stationary allowance will be provided as a voucher to students attending 6,576 schools with less than 300 students of the total 10,096 schools countrywide, children living in child development centres as well as lay and clergy students in Pirivena and education institutions.

On 2 December 2024, Cabinet approved to provide a monthly allowance of Rs. 6,000 per child to help families purchase school stationery ahead of the 2025 academic year. This was aimed at minimising the adverse effects of the economic crisis on education and will benefit children of families where the Aswesuma is entitled and other vulnerable groups.

Measures have already been taken to remit the allowance of Rs. 6,000 for purchase of stationary for children of the beneficiary families of Aswasuma in bank accounts of those families. The responsibility of awarding that allowance to children without parents that do not belong to Aswasuma beneficiary families, children of a disabled mother or a father, all the children at the age of schooling and in children’s homes as well as children belong to communities that have encountered destitution due to special reasons, is entrusted with the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education. Speaking at the weekly post-Cabinet meeting media briefing on 2 December, Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said a survey conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics has revealed that the school children above 55% have had a significant negative impact on education due to the adverse effects of the economic crisis. It was further revealed that this percentage is higher in rural and estate areas where 53.2% of affected children have reduced or stopped purchasing school stationary while 26.1% of the school children have resorted to reusing used school stationary.

“This initiative ensures that all children, regardless of their family’s education situation, have the resources they need to succeed in school,” he said, acknowledging the effect children underwent due to the economic crisis.