Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister and Cabinet Spokesman, Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana invited the media to join him to visit the Mahinda Rajapaksa Vidyalaya in Diyagama, Homagama, the stadium and its surroundings.
He said that Mahinda Rajapaksa Vidyalaya is a School that he has looked after very closely like his eyes.The minister said this while replying to a question raised by a journalist at the cabinet decision press conference held at the Government Information Department yesterday (13).
The Minister was responding to a question raised by a journalist whether Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium was in a neglected state.He also said that if it is possible to renovate the stadium with his own money, he would do it.
The minister further said:I saw that a certain media station has spread the word that the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium for children has been turned into a swamp. I regret that I have to tell you about the things that have been done at my personal expense. Every month I have paid Rs.50,000 monthly from my own bank account to this school until Covid-19 became a pandemic. After that, on the occasion of my birthday, I collected money from my friends and built a swimming pool using my own money as well.
A well-known private company in Korea has built a fully equipped digital smart classroom which Sri Lanka has, costing more than Rs.100 million.An educator in Japan called Dr. Ito has donated a bus worth more than Rs.15 million. The green board required for digital pianos in all classrooms has been requested from Dr.Lee Jung Gun of Korea. A chaitya has been built at private expense for children to worship.
A statue of Anagarika Dharmapala has been built. What is more valuable than that is to visit this place, you can come with me one day. There was an unproductive coconut land in a beautiful village far away. 12 years ago. When I was trying to build schools on this land, many people in the country said that we are going crazy. It was said that a school is being built in a coconut grove inside a village. Today that school is one of the largest secondary schools in South Asia.
There are 7,000 students. There are 300 teachers. Within the 25,332 square miles of Sri Lanka, the largest number of students appeared for the last GCE O Level Examination. All 763 of them sat for the advanced level examination. Not a single one failed. Every year, I have taken from home and given one hundred and fifty thousand rupees to the children who come first in all of Sri Lanka. On the other side, there is the Green University which has about 12,000 students. In front of it there is a Faculty of Technology of the University of Colombo on a 28-acre land. As the Minister of Education, I introduced the subject of technology. On the other side, there is the Faculty of Technology of the Colombo University. Above that, there is the Measurement and Standards Service Department of Sri Lanka in the same department.
Another 58 acres has the Nanotechnology Park and the Nanotechnology Faculty. There is one of the largest pharmaceutical factories in Sri Lanka, the Morrison Company. In front of it there is a telecom database. Below that is the Research Unit of the Ministry of Defence. In front of it, there is a textbook store that distributes textbooks to the whole of Sri Lanka.
The Diyagama Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium is located about three kilometers away. In front of it is the Moratuwa University’s Institute of Technology Studies in 25 acres. On the other side, the Engineering Faculty of the Jayawardhanapura University is being built. This is an education and central city. If you go on a trip you will be able to see all of this which was done with great difficulty during a period of 10 years.
I am not the only one who has given this dansala. More than 300 people from the army of this country volunteered to cook and serve food. The army personnel who came for this had their nails and even their bodies checked, to ensure hygiene and they provided food at the dansala according to the rules and regulations and alms were provided for around 60,000 people at the rate of 20,000 per day.
This playground is muddy because of the rain, not because of cows. Poor people of this country waiting in line to get a meal.
That is why the grounds have become like a swamp. There is no problem with redoing it. If it can be done with my own money, I will do it. Anyway, I don’t need anyone to tell me to do things for this school. It is a school that I have guarded like one of my eyes. In the midst of challenges and threats, we are people who love children.
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