All schools in the island closed till April 20th

All schools in the island closed till April 20th

3.50 pm Update 

Following the decision of closing government schools, the Catholic education office in Colombo has decided likewise to close all private and international Catholic schools temporarily from tomorrow till 26th March. 

2.50 pm Update

Minister of education, Mr. Dalas Alahapperuma officially said that steps have been taken to close all
government schools in the island temporarily till April 20th. The minister said this today (12) a short while before this at a media briefing held at the ministry. The minister further said that parents need not entertain undue fears in this connection and that these holidays are given as holidays for the first term. 

"The health ministry strongly emphasised that apart from those infected, no other patient was reported. But with this unnecessary worry, there are 43 lakhs children. Though there is no such situation in the country and though there is no serious situation regarding the virus as such, in order to prevent an undue fear in children and parents, it has been decided to start the holiday season earlier", the minister said. The minister further said that this decision was arrived at according to request made by various factions from the government. I request that private educational institutes where school children move about take notice of this. I believe that it will be possible to reopen schools at the proper time". This step has been taken because of the risk of the corona virus spreading around.