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All government schools are set to re-open in four stages from June 29, minister of education Dullas Alahapperuma announced yesterday.

Addressing a press conference at the ministry of education, minister Alahapperuma said that the government decided to close schools on March 13 following the Covid-19 outbreak and observed that schools will reopen for teachers, principals and non-teaching staff on June 29. He added that the decision to open schools in four stages was taken after discussions with the President, Health and Education ministry officials and officials of the Presidential Task Force.

STAGE 01

Commence on the 29th of June and it will only be for Principals, Teachers, Non-Academic Staff and Management.

The entire week starting from the 29th of June will be used to disinfect and clean schools as well as to add upgrades to the existing school system and for meetings between schools and parents.

STAGE 02

Commence on the 06th of July and it will be only for students of Grades 05, 11 and 13 and it will be in effect until the 17th of July.

STAGE 03

Commence on the 20th of July and it will only be for students of grade 10 and 12.

STAGE 04

Commence on the 27th of July and it will be only for students of Grades 03,04,06,07,08 and 09.

Furthermore, minister Alahapperuma said the Advanced Level examination will be held from September 7 to October 2 while the Grade 5 scholarship examination will be held on September 13.

Retired Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police S. M. Wickremasinghe has been appointed to the post.

The objective of setting up an Ombudsman Office is to provide solutions to any inconvenience or distress caused to the public as a result of negligence of public officers or acting beyond their limit while exercising their administrative powers.

The office is located on 3rd Floor, Old Standard Chartered Bank Building, Janadhipathi Mawatha, Colombo 1.

The public has the opportunity to submit their complaints or grievances in person by visiting the office or they can forward their issues by post addressed to “Ombudsman, Presidential Secretariat, Colombo 1”.

The public can reach the office through the telephone/ fax no. 011 2338073 or sending an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Ombudsman S. M. Wickremasinghe says people also can complain about large scale drug trafficking which causes disruption to the civilian life, damages to the environment and any other illegal activity to him.

The isolation units were set up at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Castle Street Hospital for Women and the Base Hospital Minuwangoda. The hospitals were identified by the Ministry of Health as part of a rapid assessment for COVID-19 patient isolation and treatment purposes.

UNICEF contributed with technical expertise and funding of nearly LKR 5 million from the Japanese government while the construction expertise and labour for the refurbishment was provided by the Sri Lanka Navy.

“It is vital that we continue to support the Government of Sri Lanka in responding to the coronavirus pandemic. The setting up of the special isolation and treatment units at these hospitals is a truly a collaborative effort involving much needed assistance from the Government of Japan and the Sri Lanka Navy,” Emma Brigham, Deputy Representative of UNICEF Sri Lanka said.

This work involved the refurbishing of existing hospital spaces and the installation of ventilation and sound systems, adequate facilities for infection prevention and water and sanitation for health and establishing of a layout in line with social distancing requirements.

He emphasized that it is necessary to initiate a movement towards a progressive political trajectory in Sri Lanka in partnership with the people in this country who respect democracy, and the different social identities and cultural traditions in the country, and people who are not overwhelmed and consumed by hatred towards one another. He urged the people in this country who are not governed and guided solely by their racial, caste, religious, ethnic and gender identities at birth and those who are free of political, cultural and social hypocrisy to come together and join forces for this purpose.

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on ‘Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province’ has been tasked to conserve all archaeological heritage sites in the Eastern Province irrespective of religion, Defence Secretary Maj.Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne said.

Addressing the members of the PTF on ‘Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province’, at their inaugural meeting at the Defence Ministry today, the Defence Secretary, who is the Chairman of the PTF, requested all Sri Lankans irrespective of their race, religion and other differences to support the PTF to preserve Sri Lanka’s historical heritage in the Eastern Province for future generations.  

“We have many historical archaeological sites in the Eastern Province and many are under threat due to different reasons, today. The Government wants to conserve and restore these sites irrespective of the religion or ethnic group that they belong to as they are national heritage sites,” he said.  

The Defence Secretary said the PTF would work closely with all the ethnic groups in the Eastern Province to restore and manage those historical archaeological sites.  

The members of the PTF discussed matters related to planning and implementation of its tasks. During the discussion, the members representing different establishments agreed upon sharing knowledge and mutual cooperation with a view to bringing everyone into one grid in implementing the PTF’s mandate.

The 11-member PTF is given the task of identifying sites of archaeological importance in the Eastern Province, identifying and implementing an appropriate program for the management of archaeological heritage by conserving and restoring such identified sites and antiquities, identifying the extent of land that should be allocated for such archaeological sites and take necessary measures to allocate them properly and legally and preserving the cultural value of sites of archaeological importance and promoting the uniqueness of Sri Lanka, both locally and internationally and making recommendations to  promote such heritage.  

The PTF members during the meeting emphasized the importance of getting the support of local communities whose knowledge and information on the sites would be of significance to conserve them. They also agreed to initiate viable options in conserving and restoring archaeological and heritage sites already identified as a stepping stone of the PTF’s work on the ground while simultaneously utilizing available resources in discovering more sites in the Eastern Province.  

A decision was arrived at creating a database of archaeological sites with the inclusion of geo-spatial data enabling effective and transparent implementation in preservation and conservation efforts.

The PTF members -  Purawidya Chakravarthi Ven. Ellawala Medhananda thero, Chief Prelate for the Eastern and Northern Provinces Ven. Panamure Thilakawansha thero, Governor Eastern Province Anuradha Yahampath, Director General of Archaeology Dr. Senarath Bandara Dissanayake, Land Commissioner General Chandra Herath, Surveyor General A.L.S.C. Perera, Prof. Raj Kumar Somadeva,  Prof. Kapila Gunawardena,  Senior DIG Western Province  Deshabandu  Thennakoon, Provincial Land Commissioner, Eastern Province H.E.M.W.G. Dissanayake, Chairman of Derana Media Network Dilith Jayaweera and Senior Assistant Secretary to the President Jeevanthie Senanayake were present in the meeting.

The U.S. Department of Defense funded the donation, which includes more than 48,000 masks, safety goggles, and isolation gowns with hoods.  All items were purchased in Sri Lanka in order to champion Sri Lankan businesses as they recover from COVID-19’s economic impact.  

“The United States is proud to assist Sri Lanka’s frontline responders as they care for Sri Lankans suffering from Coronavirus,” said Ambassador Teplitz.  “Helping to protect these healthcare workers while supporting Sri Lankan businesses and jobs is just one component of our deep friendship.”  The donation is part of U.S. support to expand the flexibility, agility, and resilience of Sri Lanka's disaster response sector.

In coordination with the Ministry of Defense and disaster relief authorities, the donations will be distributed to the following health care facilities:

The Prime Minister's son has called for a probe into the incident and observed that the recent behaviour of some members of the Police should not tarnish the track record of the entire Police Department and the great job done during COVID -19 pandemic

 

On May 29, a vanishingly rare black leopard — an actual black panther — died at a government wildlife treatment facility in Sri Lanka. It had been brought there three days earlier after being trapped in a snare in a tea estate in the hill town of Hatton, in the central district of Nuwara Eliya district. The big cat’s fate sparked  public outrage in Sri Lanka, a biodiversity hotspot with a fast-dwindling population of leopards.

The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is a subspecies unique to the country, and also the island’s apex predator.

Typically  rusty yellow in color with dark spots, leopards sometimes come in an all-black hue caused by the mutation known as melanism. That was the case with this latest leopard, which was discovered on camera trap last October, generating waves of excitement among wildlife enthusiasts at the time.

Trapped by a snare on May 26, this black leopard died three days later, prompting outrage among wildlife lovers in Sri Lanka. Image courtesy of Malaka Kasun Abeywardana.

Black leopards are a rarity in Sri Lanka; this was only the third one recorded in the past decade. Far more common is the killing of wildlife by snares, typically set to trap deer or wild boar for bushmeat. The two earlier recorded black leopards were also killed in snares, in 2009 and 2013, in southern Sri Lanka on the border of the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

And it’s not just black leopards: snares are the primary cause of death for Sri Lanka’s leopards at large. In the first five months of this year, six leopards were caught in snares; four of them died. In the second half of May, two leopards were found in snares, one of them the black leopard. The other survived.

According to the Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT), 47 leopards were trapped in snares during the past decade. Of the total 79 leopard deaths reported during this period, 42 deaths were caused by snare-induced injuries.

“It is probable that more animals are being caught by snares and just go unreported. So the number could be much higher than this,” Andrew Kittle, a biologist with the WWCT, told Mongabay.

Once triggered, the snares tighten around the hip or limb of the trapped animal, causing extensive damage to internal organs like kidneys and making it difficult to save the animal’s life. Image courtesy of Tharaka Prasad.

A snare, at its most basic, is a noose of steel wire that is concealed along trails frequented by wild animals. When the unsuspecting animal or one its limbs touches the wire, it springs the noose. As the animal struggles to free itself, the trap only gets tighter. Snaring of wildlife is outlawed under Sri Lanka’s Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance, but an exception is made for “pest species” such as wild boars that damage crops. As events have shown, that hasn’t stopped leopards and other wildlife from getting trapped in these snares.

“The struggle to break free makes the internal organs to get damaged, making it very difficult to save these animals,” Tharaka Prasad, a veterinary surgeon and director of wildlife health with the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), told Mongabay.

In the case of leopards, the snares usually catch around the animal’s hip area, where organs like the kidneys can become damaged as the noose crushes them. WWCT’s data for 2010-2020 show that 90% of leopards that get caught in snares die.

This black leopard was killed by a snare in 2009. Image courtesy of Ajith Gunathunga.

Of the 47 leopards the WWCT recorded as being snared, 37 were in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. “A century ago, large swaths of montane forests in the island’s central hills were cleared for tea cultivation. This left fragmented small forest patches for the leopards and these spots continue to shrink,” said Anjali Watson, an ecologist with the WWCT. “As leopards come out at night [and] frequently cross these habitats across various corridors, [that] makes them vulnerable to snare traps.”

She cited the latest case of the leopard snared in the tea estate in Hatton, the country’s tea-growing capital, noting that the area is “a typical corridor used by the hill country male leopard to cross to different forested areas.” Watson said the vegetable plot the leopard was crossing at the time was a new one that was set up by clearing an overgrown area. Conserving such corridors between tea estates that link fragmented forest habitats is something the WWCT advocates to minimize the problem.

But a nationwide lockdown imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated the issue, Watson suggested. With many people losing work as a result of the lockdown, she said, they would have explored alternatives such as cultivating vegetable plots by clearing little corridors that are essentially paths used by wildlife such as leopards to cross, setting up snares either to protect their plots or to catch wild game.

Highly stressed and soaked in mud when discovered in the central district of Nuwara Eliya, this leopard sustained serious injuries when struggling to free itself from a snare. Image courtesy of Janaka Gallangoda.

Need for rapid rescues

The fact that snaring is technically banned in Sri Lanka yet continues unabated thanks to the “pest species” exception, needs to be addressed, conservationists say.

“Sri Lankan law has sufficient provisions to take legal action against those who set snares, on the basis that it kills indiscriminately other than the targeted wild boar,” Jagath Gunwawardana, a leading environment lawyer, told Mongabay.

“We need stringent punishments for those who set snares; perhaps jail terms and confiscation of their properties,” said Rukshan Jayewardene, a conservationist with the Leopard Trust. “This illegal practice has been ignored much too long. Wire snares kill animals indiscriminately, bringing much suffering to victims and cause lingering deaths.”

Jayewardene said it’s important to investigate whether the snares are set up in an organized manner targeting leopards.

If a leopard gets trapped in a snare at night, it may take until the afternoon of the next day for a DWC veterinary team to reach it. In those hours of struggling, the leopard would be  drained of energy and suffer serious damage to its internal organs.

A Sri Lankan leopard killed by a snare at the Argyle tea estate in the central district of Nuwara Eliya. Image courtesy of the Wildlife & Wilderness Conservation Trust.

“With each second that’s lost to carrying out a timely rescue operation, the chances of the animal’s survival declines, so time is of great essence,” Jayewardene told Mongabay.

He called for a fully equipped wildlife rescue and treatment center to be established in the Central Highlands region to cut down on the response time. Jayewardene also stressed the importance of setting up protocols to be followed in dealing with wildlife emergencies, including the rescue and treatment of snared leopards, to ensure swift coordination among different agencies and mobilize resources in a timely manner.

“It’s not about response but rapid response. There is no time to be lost,” he said.

The public outrage sparked by the black leopard’s death is now being channeled into an awareness campaign. The Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS), a leading conservation group, has declared May 29 as Leopard Day to draw attention to the urgent need to protect Sri Lanka’s iconic apex predator and to lead the fight against the deadly snares.

Located at the Colombo Innovation Tower, AI Academy is an incubator for students and business professionals to implement innovative ideas, apply emerging technologies, and embrace lifelong learning. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, executive part-time courses and knowledge sharing forums; also providing collaborative projects to support industries, start-ups, and governments.

As part of the arrangement, Microsoft will provide AI Academy with cloud-enabled software and tools for teaching and learning through Microsoft Hands-on Labs and other industry-recognized programs such as Microsoft Learn, AI Lab, AI School, and AI Business School to ensure its students and working professionals are exposed to practical applications of AI.

AI Academy will leverage Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams to support virtual teaching and learning with international faculty while regional Microsoft specialists will help conduct AI business workshops and hands-on technical lab sessions to help participants identify business challenges that can be optimized with the help of AI—driving AI literacy and empowering the workforce of Sri Lanka to deliver more value.

“Our partnership with Microsoft represents our commitment to address the unmet needs of students and working professionals in Sri Lanka by empowering them with the tools and capabilities to go from envisioning to rapid prototyping,” said Lin Gong-Deutschmann, Co-founder, AI Academy. ”AI will transform industries and societies, so governments, technology companies, businesses, academia, and society will need to work together to reform the curriculum in higher education to meet local and global market demands and prioritize technology-based education in driving faster economic growth, creating a skilled resource pool for economic transformation.”



Lin Gong-Deutschmann, Co-Founder, AI Academy (Top Left); Hasitha Abeywardena, Country Manager, Microsoft Sri Lanka and Maldives (Top Right); Ashiq Niyas, Territory Channel Manager, Microsoft Sri Lanka and Maldives (Bottom Left); and Sachindi Weerakoon, Business Strategist, AI Academy (Bottom Right) during the virtual signing via Microsoft Teams

“We look forward to building on our partnership with Microsoft to further strengthen Sri Lanka’s capabilities, and enhance our competitiveness as a global hub for students and business professionals in all sectors,” added Lin.

“It’s great to see AI Academy and its leadership set an example by investing in the workforce of tomorrow,” said Hasitha Abeywardena, Country Manager, Microsoft Sri Lanka and Maldives. “By building their own unique digital capabilities, AI Academy is becoming a fast adopter of best-in-class technology. AI is one of the technologies that will transform every industry, and we’re proud to be partners with AI Academy in readying and upskilling their students and working professionals.”

AI Academy has announced plans to set up a physical AI Experience Center to encourage the public to explore and experience what is possible with emerging technology. Its educational programs will be very much integrated with industry requirements and the practical applications of AI. Subject areas include, but are not limited to, data science, machine learning, computer science, data analytics, and intelligent systems.

“With this partnership, we see a potential to scale and drive our efforts to empower the market with the right tools and technology. We can help to further accelerate AI-enabled digital transformation, build coalitions to nurture a vibrant local technology ecosystem, close the digital skills gap and create societal impact from innovations in AI,” added Hasitha.

Responding to reports that a US diplomat had refused PCR testing upon his arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Namal Rajapaksa, former parliamentarian and the son of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, took to twitter to voice his objection.

"Reports regarding a US diplomat refusing PCR tests at the BIA is so disappointing. Vienna Convention or not, the world's in the midst of a global pandemic & what we need more than ever is cooperation & respect of one another's national frameworks which are put in place to save lives," he said.

However, according to the 'Sunday Morning', the US diplomat was kept for four hours at the BIA and was released after discussing with the Secretary to the President Dr. PB Jayasundara and Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha.

Close coordination with Ministry of Foreign Relations

Meanwhile, spokesperson for the US Embassy Nancy VanHorn when contacted by 'Ada Derana' noted that US diplomatic staff adhere carefully to Sri Lankan COVID-19 guidelines, including quarantine restrictions, in close coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

VanHorn said that the arrival of US diplomatic staff to Sri Lanka also complies with the norms and procedures outlined in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, just as it applies to arrival of Sri Lankan and other diplomatic staff to the United States.

Furthermore, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on June 04 had instructed to carry out PCR tests for COVID-19 on passengers at the airport upon arrival to Sri Lanka, and to direct them to a separate area until the results are released, before following the immigration procedure.