Former child soldiers of the LTTE are being admitted to schools for further education after being rehabilitated in the North.


A batch of 141 such children have been admitted to a special Unit affiliated to Hindu College, Ratmalana to pursue their education and start new lives as ordinary children, Law Reforms Ministry sources said.


Justice and Law Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda, Hindu College Principal S. Manmadarajan, Brigadier L.C. Perera, and officials from Rehabilitation Commissioner's Office were present at the time the children were admitted to the school.


Another batch of children will be admitted to the same school at the end of the month, said ministry sources. The Justice and Law Reforms Ministry and the Commissioner General's office Rehabilitation have taken steps to assist the program.


"Of those who have surrendered to the security forces during the past few months, there were about 600 children who had lost their education because they were forcibly taken away to have been made child soldiers," sources said.


The first set of children were introduced to Ratmalana Hindu College after a process of rehabilitation at Welfare and Rehabilitation camps in Ambepussa, Vavuniya, and Punthottam, ministry sources said.


The children will be enabled to study from their eighth year during which they will be provided with hostels, food and other necessities, they said.