News

Presidential Educational Scholarship Program 2023, commences

Published

2 years ago

May 3, 2023

editor

The President’s Fund and the Ministry of Education jointly implemented a scholarship program for students who excelled in the GCE O/L examination, under the guidance of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Zonal Education Offices considers skill, aesthetics, sports, and extra-curricular activities, as well as the economic and social status of the student’s family when awarding points for this program.

Under the first phase, 3,000 students across the country qualified, and 110 scholarship recipients with the highest merits in 11 education zones symbolically received their scholarships of Rs. 5,000 per month for two years at the Presidential Secretariat.

The scholarship program will award a total of 30 scholarships per zone, providing support to 3,000 students in 100 educational zones throughout the country. The scholarship program’s total estimated cost for the two-year duration is Rs. 360 million. The Ministry of Education informed schools through a circular, and a newspaper advertisement was also published to encourage applications for the scholarship program.

Along with this scholarship award, school bags, books, umbrellas, watches and a gift card worth Rs. 5,000 were also presented to the scholarship winners with the support of the Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, National Savings Bank, Regional Development Bank and the National Paper Corporation.

Arrangements have also been made to make scholarship awards and financial donations to the remaining scholarship recipients within the next two weeks.

Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha and Presidential Senior Adviser on National Security, Chief of Presidential Staff Mr. Sagala Ratnayake, Secretary to the President Mr. Saman Ekanayake, Secretary of the Ministry of Education Mr. M.N. Ranasinghe, Secretary of the President’s Fund and Senior Additional Secretary to the President Mr. W.A. Sarath Kumara and several others participated in this event.

(President’s Media Division)

News

Former Eastern Provincial Council member arrested

Published

6 hours ago

July 6, 2025

editor

Ampara District Organizer of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal party and former member of the Eastern Provincial Council K. Pushpakumar alias Iniya Bharathi has been arrested.

He was arrested over the abduction and disappearance of the former Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University Prof. Subramaniyam Ravindranath.

Sivanathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, the leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and former State Minister, was arrested by the Colombo Criminal Investigation Department at his office in Batticaloa on April 8, over this incident.

He was later detained for 3 months under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Iniya Bharathi, also known as Kumaraswamy Pushpakumar, was arrested based on information revealed during the interrogation of Pillayan.

News

e-Revenue Licence system down due to technical glitch, ICTA says

Published

6 hours ago

July 6, 2025

editor

The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) said the electronic Revenue Licence system (eRL 2.0) is currently unavailable due to a critical technical infrastructure issue.

According to the ICTA, the disruption began on July 3, 2025, and has made vehicle revenue licence issuing services inaccessible.

The unavailability is expected to continue until July 9, 2025.

The ICTA expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the public and assured that technical teams are working urgently to resolve the issue.

The agency also said that further updates will be shared as work progresses, with an official notice to be issued once services are restored.