President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya both issued messages on Thursday to mark World Children’s Day, which Sri Lanka observes on 1 October alongside the International Day of Older Persons.
This year’s Children’s Day theme is “Strong Minds – Enriched Children”, set by the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, which also declared a National Children’s Day Week. The concurrent Elders’ Day theme addresses rethinking systems for longer lives. World Children’s Day has been observed since 1954 under a United Nations resolution; under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, everyone under 18 is a child.
The President’s message
“Children are the nation’s most valuable resource. Therefore, protecting their lives is a government’s primary responsibility,” the President said, in a message carried by Hiru News.
He argued the country being built for children “should not simply be a country prepared to be handed over to them tomorrow,” but one that “from today itself, creates an environment where their dreams are given space, their voices are heard, and their abilities are given every opportunity to flourish.”
Dissanayake committed the government to equal access to education, guidance, social protection, nutrition and healthcare, and to protecting children from abuse, violence and discrimination. “No child’s ethnicity, religion, economic status or geographical background should become a barrier to education,” he said, pointing to education reforms intended to build a skills-based system that “does not place a burden on parents or cause distress to children.”
He linked the message to two ongoing programmes: expanded educational scholarships and provision for children in child development centres, and the national anti-drugs operation ‘Ratama Ekata’ (The Whole Country Together), which he described as intended to free the younger generation from illicit drugs.
The Prime Minister on digital harm
Amarasuriya’s message went further into the online dimension. Digital technology and artificial intelligence are “completely changing” how children learn, communicate and experience the world, she said, and that demands more attention than before. Technology opens unlimited opportunities, but also exposes children to harassment, violence and exploitation in cyberspace.
The government is working, taking international experience into account, on appropriate safeguards for children’s use of social media and digital devices — a theme the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs raised in September when it warned parents about posting children’s photographs online, and which also surfaced this week when the Education Ministry said it would formulate policies for student safety in the digital space.
She was explicit that the duty does not stop there. Violence against children “causes more than physical injury,” she said: abuse, humiliation and violent disciplinary methods can do long-term damage to a child’s self-confidence, emotional development and sense of security. She tied that to government work to strengthen the legal framework against corporal punishment and promote disciplinary methods that protect children’s dignity.
“When children feel that they are safe, that they are valued and that adults listen to them,” the Prime Minister said, they have more space to learn, build good relationships, face challenges and contribute positively to society.
