The State Ministry of Education stated that the Government is taking every possible step to minimise the number of children who drop out of school due to various reasons.

Several parties including unions in the education sector have recently revealed that incidents of children stopping their school education and resorting to earning money have increased recently, in the face of the prevailing economic climate.

Speaking to The Daily Morning on the matter, State Minister of Education Aravindh Kumar said that more or less, children dropping out of school, constitutes a problem not only in Sri Lanka but also in all parts of the world including developed countries. 

“This problem has always existed in Sri Lanka. The Government is taking every possible step to overcome it. For example, we are working to provide school children with everything such as lunches, textbooks and uniforms, even in the midst of the economic crisis,” he said. 

He also said that the increase or decrease in the number of children coming to schools does not affect the Government's expenditure on the education sector. “Whether there are 1,000 children in a school or less than it, there will be no difference in the Government's expenditure for running that school. So, it is not because of a lack of Government support for the education sector that children drop out of schools. We have also instructed the Grama Niladhari officials to keep an eye on the children who drop out of schools for various reasons and to take necessary steps to send them back to school,” he went on to say.

Various researches and surveys have revealed that many parents do not have sufficient means to send their children to schools as the cost of living has risen to an unaffordable level in a very short period of time. In that situation, there is a tendency of children, especially those who are studying in Ordinary Level and Advanced Level classes, to stop going to school and engage in various jobs. Many parties including the unions in the education sector have emphasised that the Government should intervene and provide solutions to the issue.