COLOMBO (News 1st): More than 700,000 children within Sri Lanka’s school system LACK the necessary infrastructure required for online education, according to the Ministry of Education.

Currently, 4.3 million students are receiving their education at 10,155 schools across Sri Lanka; of these, over 3000 schools do NOT have proper network signal to conduct studies online, Prof. Kapila Perera, the Secretary to the Education Ministry told News 1st on Friday (Jun. 25).

According to Prof. Kapila Perera, around 700,000 children, with a majority of them receiving their primary education, are studying at schools that do NOT fall within the network signal range.

“There are Mahindodaya Technological Laboratories in the country, where students could be provided with the required internet facilities for online studies. Assuming that they live close to these IT labs, this is the most immediate solution that can be provided,” the Education Secretary said.

Thereby, students can continue online studies from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM under the supervision of an officer assigned for this matter, he noted.

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