Avurudu or  New Year  and Easter remind us of the East and our oriental culture.  The Sinhala and Tamil  New Year day is the day the Sun transits from the zodiac Pisces  to the zodiac Aries to begin a new year cycle. The dawn of the New Year occurs at the point the transit takes place. 

The New Year is an occasion for new resolutions for a new  leaf in life. It is also a good time to look at our scriptures, chronicles and national policy statements.  In such a context a look at the Mahinda Chintana Vision for the Future the Government’s national policy statement is relevant. Says the Mahnida Chintana  Vision for the Future:“In ancient times our Buddhist monasteries were seats of learning that spread the teaching of the Buddha to the rest of Asia. 

Many aesthetic subjects that originated in these monastic centres of learning greatly contributed to the knowledge foundation of the world. History records that these centres of excellence in areas such as naval, irrigation, management and architecture have served to

spread this knowledge throughout the far eastern continent”.

ICT and youth
Emphasising the role IT can play in empowering the  youth the document says:“The young generation of Sri Lanka need to be broadly empowered with modern information and communication technologies. The future market for employment will depend entirely on these skills. For these reasons, our youth will be given more opportunities to improve their knowledge in these areas and

information and communication technology will be introduced for accessing all services in the country”.