Another Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) campus for civilian stream will be coming up in Kurunegala as many local students prefer this university to develop leadership skills along with disciplined education.
President Ranil Wickremasighe disclosed that he had instructed the Ministry of Finance and the Secretary of Defence to look at starting another campus of the KDU mainly for civil subjects, in Kurunegala.
He explained that the reason for selecting Kurunegala was because that was the constituency that was represented by Sir John Kotelawala in 1931.
Hence, he said that it is appropriate that the people of Kurunegala should get the benefit and the Treasury had already been instructed to set aside monies to upgrade the hospital in Kurunegala to a teaching hospital as well.
The President made these revelations while addressing the General Convocation of the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) this week.
He noted he will make Wayamba one of the two districts in Sri Lanka where there is more than one teaching hospital which is good for the people.
But more than the civilian studies, the government will have to look at the future, the future of the country, the future of our security and what role the university is going to play there.
He noted that the KDU has increased their endeavours to ensure that middle-level officers and senior-level officers also receive postgraduate education, either through this institution or the National Defense College (NDC) where many other one-star officers and two-star officers also benefit from it.
One of the objectives of the Defence University is to ensure that the top leadership and the middle leadership are all educated and their level of leadership is increased so that you have one of the best Military Leaderships in the region. The President stressed that this is a task that has to be fulfilled.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasized the importance of having increased defence allocations as the country is looking at an economy that will be highly competitive and export-oriented, President Media Division (PMD) said.
The President highlighted the significance of preparing the armed forces to face future threats while addressing the General Convocation of the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) yesterday evening.
He noted that the security skills and strategic skills of the armed forces should be utilized, if the country wants to survive.
President Wickremesinghe stated that “The actions of other people will impact us in Sri Lanka so we have to use political skills, our diplomatic skills and our military skills to ensure that our right of navigation, the right to come into Sri Lanka and go by sea and by air is not interrupted in any way. So, all these three skills are necessary.
