Sri Lanka Economic Crisis: India to help country to print school textbooks

Financially broke with no dollars to import printing material, education was one of the main victims of the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

Colombo: Battling with the ongoing economic crisis with skyrocketing inflation and a dollar crunch, Sri Lanka is to get Indian loan assistance to print textbooks for school children for the year 2023. Education Minister Susil Premejanatha said that steps have been taken to import raw materials including papers and ink required for textbook printing under the Indian credit line. The printing of the textbook is to be completed by January for the 2023 education year starting from next March.

Financially broke with no dollars to import printing material, education was one of the main victims of the current economic crisis the country has been going through.

In March last year, the island nation cancelled examinations for millions of students with no papers to print exam papers.

Providing free education, Sri Lanka provides textbooks and school uniforms for students and around $44 million is estimated for the printing of books for the year 2023.

While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to provide $2.9 billion over four years with conditions to help salvage the country from its economic crisis, India, as a single country has provided the biggest financial support so far extending $4 billion for the year 2022 alone.