(UTV|COLOMBO) – Despite various allegations about budget cuts, the present government has allocated more funds for the Health and Education sectors than any of the other previous governments, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday. The Prime Minister pointed out that the government has spent Rs. 635 billion for the Education sector and Rs.690 billion on the Health sector during its term of office.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was speaking at the opening ceremony of the new Medical Faculty of the Sabaragamuwa University in Ratnapura yesterday (17).Premier Wickremesinghe also said that large sums of money were spent on certain development projects in the post-war period, which had turned out to be white-elephants.
In line with the opening of the new Medical Faculty, the Ratnapura Hospital was declared a Teaching Hospital by the Prime Minister yesterday as well. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe pointed out that the average lifespan of a Sri Lankan should reach at least 70-80 years. “There is no use in spending so much money if an average citizen only lives for 50 years. We should make it at least 70-80. During the war time, we spend a lot on the war. After the war, sufficient allocations were not made for education and health. This money was directed towards development projects with no productive outcome. If that money was spent on health and education, that would have been more beneficial for the country,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe pointed out.
The Prime Minister pointed out the importance of allocating more funds for engineering, technical studies and vocational training. He also said that a round of discussions was held with the Education Minister on recruiting more science teachers to government schools.
Courtesy : news.lk
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