Empty schools in Sinhala colonies to close

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The government has decided to close down twenty seven schools in several Sinhala villages on the border of the eastern province. The process will be phased out over a few years as all secondary level students currently studying in these schools leave in due course.

The decision was taken in view of the drastic drop in new admissions this year.

Sources in the area said that the average intake last year was thousand. This year there were only seven new admissions for all twenty seven schools. This is mainly due to the decreasing population levels in the Sinhala settlements along the eastern province's border.

The LTTE has been systematically attacking and destroying a large number of Sri Lankan Police and army positions which had been established to protect the Sinhala settlements sponsored by successive government¹s in Colombo from the early fifties in the eastern province.

Of the 27 schools to be closed, seven are from Kebbitigollawa in the Trincomalee district on the border between the north central and the eastern provinces. The LTTE regularly attacks the Sri Lankan security forces in this area.

The government has been unable to secure these areas since 1996 by sending in more SLA troops because of the on going operations in the Vanni and due to the security demands in the peninsula.