This is out of the 594 ex- LTTE combatants identified from the Government-run rehabilitation centers and the rest will be released after rehabilitation, said the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe.

The military conducted a special school for these A/L students within the premises of Vavuniya Tamil Primary school, with the assistance of the Education Ministry. They have supplied all necessities such as books, stationery, food and lodging. ‘They had only to study hard’, Brigadier Ranasinghe said.

Ex-LTTE child combatants had to stop their education as the LTTE had forcibly recruited them into its fighting units at the expense of their education and wellbeing.

11,800 ex-LTTE cadres have been sent for rehabilitation from welfare centres and 152 among them were sent to the Jaffna University. Around 3,000 former LTTE cadres were released after successfully completing rehabilitation programs and some of them are employed in the private sector.