Ma'nalaa'ru, Padaviyaa schools closed indefinitely

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 February 2008, 14:13 GMT]
Schools in Weli Oya (Ma'nalaa'ru) educational Zones in North Central province (NCP) region will be closed indefinitely in response to requests of parents of students attending these schools, Bertie Premlal Dissanayake, Chief Minister (CM) of NCP said Tuesday. The schools will be reopened after the security of the region is tightened, Mr Dissanayake added.

The decision comes in the wake of a claymore attack Monday on a bus near Kobbekaduwa junction in Ma’nalaa’ru (Weli Oya) colonization scheme that killed 4 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and 10 civilians.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced earlier that all Government and private schools in Colombo Education Zone will be closed from Tuesday 05 February until Friday 08 February for security reasons. All schools will be reopened Monday 11 February Mr.Jayaweera Thelvagoda, Media secretary of MOE said.

Colombo students have been seriously affected by the series of bomb blasts in Colombo and suburbs, education officials in Colombo said. Students from Royal College were among those killed during the bomb blast Sunday afternoon in Fort Railway station.

The Sri Lankan government settled Sinhala civilians after evicting thousands of Tamil residents out of eighteen traditional villages in Ma'nalaa'ru and from the large old village of Thennamaravaadi almost overnight in 1984. The region was renamed in Weli Oya in Sinhala, the translation of Ma'nal Aa'ru (sand river).