Sri Lanka government to send over 250,000 children back to schools

Sri Lanka government has announced that in future legal action will be taken against the parents whose children are not attending schools.

A recent survey of the Census and Statistics Department pointed out that as many as 261,709 children aged between 5 and 17 from a total of 4.3 million do not attend school despite education plus text books and uniforms are provided free of charge.
The government has decided to direct these children to schools and to make the village officer answerable if there is any child that is not attending schools.

Meanwhile, several teacher activists pointed out that the number can be more than the estimate of Census and Statistics Department since there are many regular absentees in schools. These students are counted as those attending schools although they are not doing so.