Feb 20, Colombo: Prof. GL Peiris, Minister of Education, said that the flexibility of children’s ideas and emotions develops in childhood and that the Scout Movement plays a vital role in developing those virtues and building a sense of team spirit, empathy and reconciliation in children, laying a solid foundation for them to face life’s challenges.

The Minister was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a series of special programs organized by the Asia Pacific Region of the Movement under the theme "Let’s make all children in the country boy scouts" with the aim of further developing child scouts in Sri Lanka.

Meryl Goonetileke, President of the Sri Lanka Scout Association, Maj. Gen. Milinda Peiris, Chief Commissioner, Kapila Kalyana Perera, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Janaparith Fernando, Deputy Chief Commissioner Wathsala Wijewickrama Assistant Scout Commissioner, Project Leader, senior commissioners and district commissioners participated in the ceremony held at the Hilton Hotel in Colombo this morning (20).

The World Scout Movement, founded in 1907 by Lord Baden-Powell of England, was started in Sri Lanka in 1912 by Mr. George Stevenson. At present, nearly 40 million children aged 5-24 in 216 countries around the world are actively involved in various age groups such as children, juniors and seniors.

The Education Minister said that the Scout Movement has a clear responsibility to build a bridge that can unite the Northern and Southern Provinces of the country and to identify the current needs. The Minister further pointed out the potential of the Sri Lanka Scout Movement to assist children in learning as well as extracurricular activities.