School uniform vouchers available from today

The Education Ministry yesterday said that the uniform vouchers had distributed across the country, and school students would be able to obtain it from today. 

Issuing a statement, the Ministry said the Government had spent Rs. 2.9 billion on school uniforms this year, and printed 4.2 million uniform vouchers that have been distributed to every school in the country. 

Accordingly, all vouchers divide into 11 groups, based on the grade of the students, ranging from Rs. 440 to Rs. 1800. 

In parallel to the vouchers, the Ministry has decided to issue vouchers to purchase shoes for student of low-income families and schools that have less than 100 students, the statement said. 

The Ministry has selected 4690 schools, and 70,000 vouchers will be distributed to those schools. The total cost of the initiative will be around Rs. 958 million, and vouchers were divided into four groups. The voucher values range between Rs. 1200 and Rs. 1500, the statement said. 

The Ministry was unable to distribute school uniform vouchers in December last year, claiming lack of time after the new Government came into power. Education Minister Dullas Alahapperuma apologised for not being able to distribute vouchers in December, and also said the Suraksha insurance scheme for school students, introduced by the previous administration, would be continued.