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2025-02-21

News Categories : Committee News 

Two sub-committees appointed by the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Youth Affairs and Sports to promote sports and youth activities in the country

  • The Committee focuses on developing a database that includes sports information of school children.

 

Two sub-committees were appointed by the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Youth Affairs and Sports to promote sports and youth activities in the country.

Accordingly, Hon. Members of the Committee, Attorney-at-Law Nilanthi Kottahachchi, Ruwan Mapalagama, Mayilvaganam Jegatheeswaran, and Attorney-at-Law Hiruni Wijesinghe, were appointed as members of the Sub-Committee on Sports. Hon. Members of the Committee, Lasith Bhashana Gamage, Dinindu Saman, and Kosala Nuwan Jayaweera, were appointed as members of the Sub-Committee on Youth Affairs. Other Members of the Committee were given the opportunity to join the Sub-Committee at their own discretion.

The Sub-Committees were appointed during the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Youth Affairs and Sports met for the first time in Tenth Parliament on 19.02.2025 under the chairmanship of Hon. Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sunil Kumara Gamage. Hon. Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, Eranga Gunasekara, was also present at this meeting held.

The Hon. Members of Parliament presented the issues existing in sports and youth affairs across the island and suggestions for strengthening those sectors. The Hon. Members of Parliament emphasized that the interest shown by children in sports in the Northern and Eastern provinces as well as in the central province is not at an optimal level and due to this, there is a tendency for them to resort to anti-social activities. Therefore, the need for an awareness-based program to encourage children towards sports was also discussed.

Speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage, pointed out that sports are a powerful factor in creating national unity in the country and pointed out that there are issues related to sports in all provinces of the country. The Committee Chairman said that the Ministry should be informed in writing about the various issues related to sports and that the Ministry will intervene and take necessary measures to resolve all the issues for the development of sports in the country. The Committee Chairman further emphasized that a program is underway to identify and take appropriate action against corruption and irregularities committed under the guise of developing sports in the country.

The Committee also discussed the identification of school children's sports abilities from an early age and the fact that this information was not available in one system. Accordingly, the Chairman of the Committee, who emphasized the importance of having this information in one system, pointed out that a software engineer has already voluntarily started work on creating a data collection system.

Also, expressing his views on youth affairs, the Hon. Members presented facts about the corruption and irregularities that have occurred in the National Youth Services Council. Accordingly, the importance of taking prompt action in this regard was also emphasized.

Meanwhile, although the annual report of the National Youth Services Council for the year 2022 had been submitted to the Committee for approval, it was decided to consider the report again in the Committee in the future as time was needed to study the report.

This Committee meeting was attended by Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Members of Parliament including Committee Members and a group of officials of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.



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