Sri Lankan students to receive free school shoes

The project will initially benefit more than 150,000 schoolchildren.

Two Sri Lankan government ministries – caring for education and industries – have signed a joint agreement with nine local footwear producers to provide schoolchildren with domestically-manufactured shoes free of charge. A pilot project is being launched to distribute ‘standard-quality’ school shoes in place of the vouchers currently given to establishments with fewer than 250 students on their roll.

The agreement was signed on 1^st January 2026 under the patronage of prime minister Harini Amarasuriya. It will initially benefit more than 150,000 schoolchildren in 1,302 schools in the western and southern provinces, in addition to over 12,000 students and laywomen from 354 Pirivena monastic institutions.

The shoemakers have reportedly agreed to visit the selected schools and provide items of footwear that fit the children’s sizes. These companies will deliver shoes with a one-year warranty at a special cost of LKR 2,100 per pair (at time of writing, GBP 5.02/USD 6.77).

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 3 of the January 2026 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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