The Ministry of Education has prohibited the promotion and use of alcohol and drugs at any event organised under a school’s crest, and has given its Secretary the power to shut such an event down on the spot.
The measure comes through Circular No. 2026/10, under which the Secretary to the Ministry of Education may immediately ban any event where alcohol, drugs or other intoxicating substances are used or promoted.
The announcement was made by Mahesh Rathnayake, Deputy Director of the Co-Curricular Guidance and Counselling Branch of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, at a media briefing held at the headquarters of the “Ratama Ekata” national operation — the government’s flagship anti-narcotics campaign.
Big Matches named directly
Rathnayake said parents had repeatedly raised concerns that schoolchildren were being exposed to drugs at the major inter-school cricket fixtures known as “Big Matches”, held annually between leading schools.
The circular’s central mechanism is a definition. “Any event that uses the school crest will be regarded as a school function,” Rathnayake said, as reported by Ada Derana. “The use of alcohol, drugs, or any other intoxicating substances will not be permitted at such events. Under this circular, the Secretary to the Ministry of Education has the authority to immediately ban an event if such practices occur.”
That wording is what extends the ministry’s reach. Big Match fixtures, associated musical shows and “papare” gatherings are frequently organised by old boys’ associations and private promoters rather than by schools themselves, while still trading on the school’s name and crest. By treating any use of the crest as making the event an official school function, the ministry claims jurisdiction over events it does not organise.
Rathnayake said the ministry would closely monitor implementation. He added, in Hiru News’s account, that the rules were meant to keep school events as safe environments for students and stop them being used as platforms to promote or consume intoxicants.
Where the outlets differ
The three newsrooms carrying the announcement do not describe its scope identically. Ada Derana and the Daily Mirror both state that the ban covers alcohol and drugs. Hiru News reports it as a ban on drugs and “intoxicating substances” and does not use the word alcohol anywhere in its report. The two-to-one reading, followed here, is that alcohol is explicitly within scope.
The outlets also render the object bearing the school’s identity differently — Ada Derana as a crest, Hiru as an official emblem, the Daily Mirror as a logo. These appear to be three translations of the same term rather than three different things.
Hiru is the only outlet to date the briefing, placing it on 4 September; Ada Derana and the Daily Mirror both filed on 5 September without saying when the ministry spoke.
Context
“Ratama Ekata” — rendered variously as “A Nation United” and “The Country United” — is the sustained national crackdown on narcotics and organised crime that this government has run through daily raids by police and other agencies. LankaNewz reported on 31 July that the operation had produced 239,384 arrests in nine months, including 995 major traffickers and 743 children. Holding the schools briefing at the campaign’s headquarters places the measure inside that wider drive rather than treating it as a routine education circular.
Not reported
No outlet published the text of Circular No. 2026/10, said when it takes effect, or specified whether it applies to events already scheduled for the current Big Match season. None reported what penalty falls on organisers beyond cancellation, how the ministry will monitor privately promoted events, or whether school authorities and old boys’ associations were consulted. No principal, old boys’ association or event promoter has responded.
