State Minister of Defence Hon. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon declared open the newly established Training Centre of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) amidst the blessings of Venerable Maha Sangha, Hindu, Muslim and Christian religious dignitaries at Mullaitivu on yesterday (Apr 7).
Addressing the function, the State Minister of Defence said that the objective of the NCC is to produce an astute youth community with every skill required by our motherland and capable of competing with the world. He said that cadets who acquire the fundamentals of life in this facility will become a precious human resource and patriotic citizen with an attractive personality and balanced thinking. That is the intention of all those who contributed to this endeavour and made enormous sacrifices for its success.
The NCC, which has a proud and golden history of nearly one and a half centuries, is implemented with the aim of producing a robust younger generation as the country’s future, who are self-confident, self-disciplined, have developed leadership qualities and can take on adventures, challenges and responsibilities in any difficult circumstances. Last year, the President awarded NCC with Presidential Colours in recognition of its invaluable service.
According to President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s concept of establishing cadet platoons in all National Schools in the country, in addition to the only NCC Training Centre in Rantambe at present, this training centre was opened to train future generations as leaders and Minister Tennakoon also emphasized that it will be possible to build unity and harmony between the North-East and South of the country within the framework of reconciliation.
The Minister further noted that plans to present a new bill have been initiated by taking required steps to reorganize and reinforce the NCC in accordance with the notion of instilling discipline through training and further, work on reforming the existing curriculum has also been started.
The State Minister also awarded certificates to the nationally recognized cadets in the northern region and vested cadet licenses with the school principals in the newly founded NCC Battalion in the northern region.
The ceremony was attended by Commander of the Security Forces-Wanni, Major General Dinesh Nanayakkara, Director NCC, Brigadier Sudantha Fonseka, senior education officials including the Northern Province Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Patrick Diranjan, Northern Province Director of Education, John Quintuss, senior military officers, principals and a large number of school cadets.
