(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Sri Lanka Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has instructed the authorities to ensure that all children in the country are given equal access to education and the children living in children’s homes should be enrolled in the nearest National School.
The Minister also emphasized that steps must be taken to ensure that the orphaned children enrolled at anational schools receive the same treatment as the other children.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Education has notified the Principals of all the National Schools by circular No. 38/2019 dated 31-07-2017 to give the opportunity for the parentless children at government-registered children’s homes to enroll in the national school nearest to the orphanage.
The circular instructs that when parentless children of the orphanages are admitted to the intermediate grades, the application submitted by the caretaker of the respective orphanage should be checked and action should be taken to enroll the child after obtaining the approval of the Ministry of Education.
Further, as defined in sub-section 4.5 of the circular 29/2019, relating to admission of children to grade one in schools, the custodian of the children’s home is considered to be the legal guardian of every child in a children’s home.
Accordingly the caretaker of the Children’s Home is responsible for directing the application.
The Ministry of Education also requests the caretakers of the registered orphanages to take advantage of this opportunity provided for the future educational advancement of the children in their facilities.
