Sri Lanka is providing free school education in the government sector. It is mandatory for the children to attend school until they are 14 years of age. Although education is provided free of charge, there are stark Regional disparities.

There are about 10,000 government schools in the country, of which 76% are small schools with classes up to Grade 5, 8 or 11.  Many of these small schools drain children from socio-economically backward families.  Majority of these small schools lack basic sanitary facilities and are unable to raise funds for the school development activities.  Non-availability of connectivity and smart phones resulted in varying degree of interruptions of education of the children in deprived areas.

The Ministry of Health by its General Circular 01/37 2007(01) dated 6.1 2016 on school health and health promotion activities, provide general overview on Health Promotion Activities by the Schools. Yet it is noted that, in general, many schools lack the comprehension as well as the knowhow to implement the activities within a health promotion framework.