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Students ‘Suraksha’ insurance curtailed?

08 Jul 2021

  • Ex-Edu Minister Akila Viraj, teachers TU allege 

By Buddhika Samaraweera   Several groups have alleged that the Government has curtailed the benefits of the “Suraksha” student insurance scheme for school children at a time when more steps need to be taken to ensure the health safety of students in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The “Suraksha” insurance scheme is a programme initiated by the previous United National Front (UNF) led Government according to the budget proposal of 2017, under the theme “Protect Forever – The Children of the Nation”. During the introduction of the said scheme, the Education Ministry announced that it had taken necessary steps to ensure the physical and psycho-social well-being of students and had introduced the insurance scheme to cover diseases, accidents and disabilities experienced while in school or outside the school premises. Commenting on this at a recent media briefing in Colombo, former Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam claimed that the current Government has curtailed a number of benefits provided under the “Suraksha” insurance scheme. Adding that it was an unfortunate situation, Kariyawasam said that the Government should take steps to provide more benefits for the welfare of students, taking into account the prevailing situation. “The ‘Suraksha’ insurance, which was introduced during the tenure of the last UNF-led Government, was extended to low income and middle income families, with the aim of covering the costs of hospitalisation of approximately 4.5 million school children while many benefits were given in addition to covering the hospitalisation charges,” he added. However, he alleged that at present, the relevant insurance scheme is given only to students from low income families and that as a result, a large number of students are not benefited through it. “During the tenure of the last Government, if one of the parents died and even if there were five children in a family, Rs. 200,000 was given to each child to continue their education, but that is not the case now,” he explained. Meanwhile, the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) Secretary Joseph Stalin, when contacted by The Morning, said that no Government should stop providing benefits to students under any circumstances. “Governments have from time to time introduced various programmes for the welfare of the students. They should continue to improve them and these should not be curtailed under any circumstances for any reason,” he noted. The “Suraksha” student insurance scheme was introduced to fulfill objectives such as the increase of school attendance on the part of students by providing quick health services in the case of diseases, accidents and disabilities, to increase the contribution towards the 13 years of schooling initiative and to help support the obtaining of the required treatments in the case of a condition of disability, covering all school students. Attempts to contact Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris and Education Ministry Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera to inquire about the matter, were unsuccessful.  


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