Police protection will be provided to all schools: Minister

Police protection will be provided to all schools when they are re-opened next Monday, May 6, Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said today.

Minister Kariyawasam told a media briefing that at least one police officer will be provided to each school.

“We have decided to reopen schools on May 6 following the advice of defence authorities. However, a minimum of one policeman will be provided to all schools,” the Minister said. He added that principals have been asked to provide additional security to children while they are inside schools.

“They have been specifically asked to introduce some system to identify each child that is in the school,” he said.

He said protection will be provided to Catholic schools as requested by the church.

The Minister said precautions have to be taken to cover the time which the schools had lost as a result of the closure. Therefore, he said two options will be to reduce the August holidays or to have school on Saturdays. This will be decided later, the Minister said.

Asked as to why the government is trying to blame certain opposition members for the Easter Sunday carnage, the Minister said certain things will be revealed on the matter soon. “The Easter Sunday mayhem may be a similar political tactic like in 2005 when certain forces got the LTTE to block Tamil votes during the presidential election,” he alleged. (Yohan Perera)