The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has launched a project to distribute exercise equipment sets to schools under the “School Cricket Development Programme,” which aims to elevate the standard of school cricket and enhance students’ physical fitness. Accordingly, the first phase of distributing these sets—valued at over Rs. 65 million—to 500 schools across the island commenced today at the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Initiated through 2024 budget allocations, this programme is being implemented jointly by the Presidential Secretariat, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Sports, and the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association. As the first phase of this initiative, 273 new side-practice wickets and 76 playgrounds were constructed for schools in 2024 at a cost of Rs. 408 million. As the second phase of this initiative, cricket equipment kits worth approximately Rs. 350,000 were provided in 2025 to 325 schools that had newly introduced the sport; currently, a subsequent phase involving the distribution of exercise equipment kits worth over Rs. 100,000 is underway. With a special focus on rural schools, 500 schools across the island were selected for this program under the full supervision of the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association, without any external interference.
Today, equipment kits were distributed to 48 selected schools within the Colombo District. Plans are also in place to provide short videos—prepared by expert instructors—to educate students and teachers in charge of sports on the proper use of this equipment. These videos will be shared, and the project’s progress monitored, through district-level WhatsApp groups.
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