The Sri Lankan nation state has recently been under economic crisis amidst the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war and falling markets across the world. On Saturday, taking new toll on the economic crisis of the country, the central government has announced complete shutdown of schools and public-sector offices from Monday as the country is amidst a severe shortage of fuel and taxonomy.
The Union Education Ministry of Sri-Lanka has made a special request to all the teachers in government and private schools of Colombo to limit conducting physical classes and rather teach students online amidst the severe economic crisis.
Recent appeals made by the Sri-Lanka government hint towards the rapid depletion of fuel stocks. Moreover, Sri Lanka is under an intense economic situation as the fears of growing foreign exchange debt lurk over the country; there is no money to pay for imports, bringing several monetary sectors of the country to a grinding halt.
Amidst the backdrop of severe economic breakdown, citizens have taken to the streets in order to protest against the long serpentine queues outside fuel stations, or day-to-day grocery stores.
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On Friday, the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry stated in concern, “Taking into consideration the severe limits on fuel supply, the weak public transport system and the difficulty in using private vehicles this circular allows minimal staff to report to work from Monday.” As per reports, people working in the healthcare sector are to continue reporting at their work
Taking action against the rising economic pressure, the Union Education Ministry of Sri Lanka has mandated to keep all government and government approved private schools shut for the next week as the country will face spontaneous power cuts.
The Daily Mirror newspaper reported that the government has requested all the teachers to conduct their classes online. In the recent days, Sri Lanka has been facing power shortages quite frequently – several areas being devoid of electricity for more than 13 hours a day for months now.
In order transgress the economic depression, the Sri Lankan government has approved certain measures – the common one is to impose a social tax of 2.5% on private companies whose annual turnover is beyond the government’s set limit. The government has also declared all Fridays as a holiday for public sector employees as an attempt to facilitate the economic recovery and mitigate energy and fuel crisis.
The Cabinet has also approved the granting of one leave per week to all government officials for the coming three months. This will help eradicate the rising issue of fuel shortage and food crisis.
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Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, told the media on Friday that approximately 4-5 million people are likely to be directly affected by the country’s rising food shortage. Sri Lanka is currently under a total foreign debt of US$ 51 billion.
