He further said that directions pertaining to creating awareness among children and youth in this regard have been given to the Inspector General of Police.
The Defence Secretary made these remarks during the Certificate Awarding Ceremony for winners of the Art and Essay Competition held (Dec17) at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Colombo.
The Art and Essay Competition organized by National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) has been held in line with the School Based Drug Prevention Program-2021 participated by nearly 1000 school children.
NDDCB Chairperson Dr Priyangi Amarabandu welcomed the Defence Secretary who graced the event as the Chief Guest.
The Defence Secretary on arrival to the premises, witnessed the Arts Exhibition which consisted of creations contributed by students of island-wide schools under the theme, 'Prosperous country - Secured generation of children' and he further had a meaningful interaction with the children.
Subsequently, the Defence Secretary gave away the Certificates and souvenirs to the winners of the Art and Essay Competition.
Addressing the audience, Gen. Kamal Gunaratne recollected his childhood experience which was then filled with joy and happiness and absence of such experience and environment to the present day children due to competition for education. He also commented on the challenges faced by the present day children and the environment available for them to lead their life.
The Defence Secretary highly appreciated the expertise demonstrated by the children while giving a piece of advice to the children to lead a better life free of drugs.
During the occasion, the maiden copy of the compilation of arts and essays of the children was also presented to the Defence Secretary which was also launched in the NDDCB website.
Additional Secretary, Ministry of Education H.U. Premathilake, Senior Assistant Secretary of State Ministry of National Security and Disaster Management Kashuni Liyanage, Chairman, National Library Sonala Gunawardena, Assistant Secretary Malsha Munasinghe, Director Narcotics SSP Samantha Wijesekera, Sri Lanka Foundation Chairperson Champika Amarasekera and NDDCB officials were also present at the occasion.
-Defence
