Forty-four containers of 1,000 metric tonnes of rice donated by the Chinese people to Sri Lankan students have arrived and was handed over to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Education yesterday (28). China is gifting a total of 10,000 MT of rice to 7,900 schools across Sri Lanka and supports its School Meal Program for 6 months, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said. Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong handed over the consignment at a ceremony on Tuesday at the CICT, Colombo Port. "The vulnerable population, especially children from low-income families suffer the most in the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka," said Ambassador Qi Zhenhong, noting that China supports the School Meal Program of Sri Lanka to provide daily nutritious meals to 1.1 million children in 7,900 schools across Sri Lanka. He further stated that another two consignments of rice donations will arrive respectively in the next week and the following week while more are in the pipeline, adding that China will try all-out efforts to sustain the Sri Lanka School Meal Program for at least 6 months. In addition to this, he said the Chinese Embassy is discussing with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Education to provide school uniforms for Sri Lankan students across the island in the new school year.