A society where women and children are respected must be established for a country to move forward said Minister of Mass Media Dullas Alahapperuma. He made this statement while speaking at a media brief held yesterday (20). "Education must be of priority. Do you see youth in other countries going behind ministers and attending political canvassing to get a job? No, this is because those countries ensure that the standard of education is very high and all people are literate enough to earn a living for themselves or learn a trade. We should not allow the education system in a country to fall whatsoever," said Minister Alahapperuma. He further added that the Government is striving towards equipping a 'lady-run supermarket' in every grama niladari division and will be providing an allowance for low income families to purchase goods from that supermarket. "The Government is striving towards equipping each grama niladari division with a supermarket that will be run by a lady, and all low income families in the area will receive an electronic card with an allowance of Rs 2000 where they can purchase goods from that particular supermarket," he stated. Alahapperuma additionally mentioned that as the Minister of Mass Media he is against the 'unwanted publicity' of children below the age of 14 years. "In other countries we do not see children below the age of 14 years being on media. I am against this. Nowhere in the world does media put down women. We must be respectful of women and children to move forward as a society," he concluded.