President, PM felicitate school student leaders

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe jointly presided over a ceremony held to felicitate the student prefects of the island’s schools.

The Abhinandana Festival to recognise school prefects was held at Temple Trees under the patronage of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

Speaking at the event, President Sirisena said he believes the schools play a pivotal role in promoting national reconciliation and the students are vested with the main responsibility of this process.

President Sirisena told the students that they are facing a competition not only in their schools but have become players of a global competition and it is his and the Prime Minister’s responsibility to groom them for competitions to become winners in the international arena.

Recalling that his father asked him whether he plans to enter Parliament when he took part in village programs after school hours, the President said he never dreamt of entering Parliament during his childhood. As such, he told the children, that they also could realise their good dreams and become leaders.

Addressing the students, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe revealed that the Government plans to set up student centres at the provincial level for all school prefects.

The Prime Minister said that they would be launching a new program not only for prefect leaders but also for other prefects and also leaders of the sports teams.

The Government plans to bring together the National Policy and Economic Affairs Ministry, the Youth Services Council, the Education Ministers, the Provincial Ministers and Ministries to establish school Prefects Centres in all school zones and training programs will be launched at these centres. A questionnaire will be directed to all schools in May to solicit the views of prefects before establishing the centres.

According to the Prime Minister, such programs would enable them to groom an improved society under the guidance of President Maithripala Sirisena.

Expressing his views on the occasion, Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan said that a leader without policies and core systems cannot be thought of and the country lived in a past where the administration was based on a handful of people. He said such a system is not beneficial to the country.

The President and the Prime Minister presented gifts to the student leaders. Performances including dancing and singing by the school students added colour to the Abhinandana Festival.

Several Parliamentarians including Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam were among those who were present on the occasion.