Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith said today (13 August) that the Government should continue to investigate the damage caused to Sri Lanka’s territorial waters by the X-Press Pearl vessel.

The Cardinal made these remarks during a discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat between the Catholic Church and the Government, co-chaired by Minister of Science and Technology Professor Krishantha Abeysena and Presidential Secretary Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.

The meeting also focused on administrative issues affecting Catholic schools that were taken over by the Government, establishing a system for the recruitment of teachers for Catholic religious education, and reviewing the current progress regarding the recruitment of Catholic nuns and priests to the teaching profession.

Discussions were also held on mechanisms for obtaining support from the Ministry of Education for the activities of Government-controlled Catholic schools.

Speaking at the meeting, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith expressed his gratitude, on behalf of the Catholic Church, to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the Government for agreeing to hold discussions with the Catholic Church three times a year.

The Cardinal further emphasised that his objective is to ensure that all students, without discrimination, have the opportunity to learn about their own religion, and stressed the need to resolve the issues currently affecting the education sector.

Members of the Catholic Church, including Bishop Harold Anthony Perera, Rev. Wimal Siri Jayasuriya and Bishop Maxwell Silva, along with other Catholic clergy, also attended the meeting.

Other participants included Prime Minister’s Secretary Pradeep Saputhanthri, Senior Additional Secretary to the President Roshan Gamage, Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa, and Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Education (School Affairs) W. A. Neelika Perera, among others.

The Ministry of Education has launched an investigation into an incident in which six packets containing the first Physics question paper scheduled to be held tomorrow (14 August) were found inside a question paper container at an Advanced Level examination centre in Ambalantota.

However, Commissioner General of Examinations Indika Kumari stated that the packets containing the question papers had not been opened or tampered with.

The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level Examination is currently being held.

Against this backdrop, an incident has been reported from a school in Ambalantota serving as an A/L examination coordination centre, where six packets containing question papers for a subject scheduled to be held tomorrow were found inside a question paper container, despite not being among the subjects scheduled for examination today.

The six packets containing the first Physics question paper scheduled for tomorrow were found inside containers holding the question paper packets for Music, Dance and Agricultural Science, which were the subjects being examined today.

Strong opposition is currently being expressed on social media against the cricket selection committee headed by Kapila Wijegunawardena over the sudden inclusion of Niroshan Dickwella in the Sri Lanka Test cricket squad.

Despite the young Anjal Bandara continuing to score runs, many have been surprised by the decision to name Dickwella as the wicketkeeper for the first Test against India, replacing Bandara. Dickwella had previously been dropped from the team and has not scored a single century in his Test career.

The previous selection committee, headed by Pramodya Wickramasinghe, which was removed before the appointment of Kapila Wijegunawardena’s committee, had not even selected Dickwella for the annual player contracts.

However, shortly after the new selection committee was appointed, Dickwella was also included in the list of contracted players, causing considerable surprise among many.

There is also speculation that Dickwella’s sudden return may be linked to a religious sect associated with a senior figure on the cricket transformation committee, as well as to a controversial cricket manager.

Whatever the case may be, there is also a prevailing view in society that the members of Kapila Wijegunawardena’s selection committee lack an understanding of emerging cricket talent.

Although members of the selection committee are prohibited from engaging in cricket coaching, Brendan Kuruppu, a member of the new committee, continues to run coaching academies at two well-known sporting grounds.