At an awareness programme held for zonal education directors regarding the distribution and implementation of cash vouchers for students to buy school uniforms, the minister said this.

The minister said the cash vouchers between Rs.450 and Rs.1,700 would be given to all students from grade one, including student monks.

"The students stand to benefit because the value of the vouchers exceed the market price of the material. Although the vouchers carry more value than the market price, the government stands to save at least Rs.500 million,” he said.

The minister said the decision to issue cash vouchers was taken by the Prime Minister’s sub-committee for Economic Management because of several complaints received on the shortcomings with regard to the quality of the product and the distribution procedure.

"Now they can buy quality material from any shop in any part of the country. It will help local textile shop owners as well. We held discussions with Sathosa and Salusala. They will be selling uniform materials at a fair price. Rs.2,300 million was allocated in 2014 for school uniforms for 4.2 million students in 2015. During previous government this uniform programme was riddled with corruption. However, this government will leave no room for corruption,” he said.