Education Ministry distributes Thirukkural statue to 16 schools

Text and Pix by Ashraff 

A. Samad

Sixteen granite statues of Thiruvalluvar - a celebrated Tamil poet who is also commonly referred to as Thirukkural - have been donated by Dr. V.G. Santhosam from Chennai to schools in Sri Lanka’s north and east. 

The handover event where they were presented to the 16 schools was held on 26 July at the Education Ministry premises. Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, State Minister K. Rathakirissnan and Dr. Santhosam also participated in the event where the 8-foot statues were presented to the school’s principals. 

Thirteen of the statues are to be placed in schools within the Northern and Eastern provinces while the remaining three will be placed at the Colombo, Hatton and Nuwara Eliya branches of Hindu College. 

State Minster of Education K. Rathakirishnan and K. Sachithanathan of Jaffna both requested Dr. Santhosam for the statues.