With no fuel and no cash, Sri Lanka declares week-long holiday for schools

Colombo: The Sri Lankan Education Ministry on Sunday declared a holiday week from July 4 for all government and state-approved private schools amid an unprecedented fuel crisis.

The Ministry announced that "all government and government-approved private schools in Colombo city limits, as well as schools in other main cities in the other provinces, will be closed during the next week due to prolonged power cuts," Daily Mirror reported.

The Sri Lankan Education Minister said that the schools will cover the syllabus in the next vacation term.

Earlier too, on June 18, the Sri Lankan government had announced to shut down all schools for a week.

Sri Lanka Education Ministry Secretary Nihal Ranasinghe asked the schools to conduct online classes and said that the schools at the divisional level will be allowed to conduct classes with less number of students under conditions where transportation difficulties do not affect the students, teachers, and principals.

He announced that the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has agreed not to have power cuts during 8 am-1 pm to facilitate online teaching on weekdays, the Daily Mirror reported.

Since March this year, Sri Lanka, formerly an upper-middle-income country, has been battling an economic crisis unparalleled since the country gained independence in 1948.

Severe protests have sparked political unrest leading to the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's brother Mahinda Rajapaksa from the Prime Minister's post and the appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe as the country's Prime Minister in May.