Speaker Jagath Wickramanayake yesterday said the President’s Fund has undergone a major transformation in 2025, enabling wider public access and significantly increasing assistance for education and social welfare.
He made these remarks at the scholarship award ceremony held at the Iranamadu Army Camp in Kilinochchi, organised to honour high-achieving Advanced Level students from the Northern Province.
The Speaker said although the President’s Fund has existed for 44 years, its operations gained renewed momentum following a meeting held under the patronage of the President in January 2025. At that meeting, it was decided to decentralise the Fund’s activities to the Divisional Secretariat level, a process that was completed by February this year.
“As a result, during the past 11 months, 4,200 applications have been received through Divisional Secretariats, including 200 applications from the Northern Province alone,” he said, noting that in the past only around 50 to 60 people applied annually for assistance.
He said Rs. 4,899 million has been allocated from the President’s Fund for education this year, while Rs. 6,112 billion has been allocated overall for public assistance nationwide.
The event was attended by Northern Province Governor Ramalingam Vedanayagam, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekaran, Deputy Minister of Trade Upali Samarasinghe, Members of Parliament Sri Bhavanendra Raja and Ilan Kumar, Senior Additional Secretary to the President Roshan Gamage, provincial and district secretaries, government officials, scholarship recipients, parents and a large gathering of invitees.
The scholarships were awarded to 300 students from the Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar and Vavuniya districts in recognition of their outstanding performance at the 2024 GCE Advanced Level examination.
