Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya has stated that steps are being taken to reduce the use of paper in Parliament and the public sector through digitalization.

The Prime Minister made these remarks in Parliament today (10) in response to a question raised regarding digitalization and the use of paper, the PM’s Office said.

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya further stated:

“The total expenditure incurred in 2023, 2024 and 2025 for the provision of Hansard reports, Order Books, Agendas and other parliamentary printed materials provided to Members of Parliament and Ministers for use within the Chamber is Rs. 45.3 million in 2023, Rs. 58.7 million in 2024 and Rs. 73.1 million in 2025.

All these printed materials have been produced based on requests made by Parliament. At the same time, a programme is currently being developed to reduce the use of paper.

In accordance with a request made by the Secretary to the Treasury to the Secretary-General of Parliament, the Committee on Parliamentary Business considered the possibility of submitting reports to Parliament solely in digital format in the future. It was decided to conduct a survey to ascertain the preference of each Member of Parliament. Based on the results of the survey, arrangements will be made to provide relevant documents digitally to Members who prefer digital copies, while printed copies will be provided to those who prefer printed versions.

Following the completion of this survey, arrangements will be made to implement the programme on a date to be determined by the Committee on Parliamentary Business.

Similarly, all ministries and government institutions are currently taking steps towards digitalization while reducing their use of paper. However, this process will take some time. In this manner, particularly the exchange of files and many other such processes can be facilitated through digital systems in the future.

For example, in the Ministry of Education, applications for leave submitted by university lecturers for overseas travel were previously submitted to the Ministry in printed form. The entire process has now been digitalized.

The Ministry, through the University Grants Commission, provides approval for such leave applications through a digital process. Ministries across the government are taking similar measures. We believe that once digital systems are fully established, we will be able to significantly reduce the use of paper.”

Responding to a question regarding measures to reduce the weight of schoolchildren’s bags, the Prime Minister stated that the weight of students’ books would be reduced through the activity-based learning process introduced under the new education reforms, the statement said.

She explained that the books would be kept in classrooms, meaning students would no longer need to carry them back and forth and would only take them home at the end of the term after completing their work.

The Prime Minister further stated that a module-based learning process would be introduced for Grade 6 from 2027, the PM’s Office added.

Instead of large textbooks, students would be provided with subject-specific modules relevant to each term, which would significantly reduce the weight of schoolchildren’s bags, it said.