Economic Affairs and Policy Planning Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva said UNICEF would spend over USD 50 million on kids in Sri Lanka next four years.

"Yesterday at UNICEF headquarters in NY I sat with the SouthAsia and Sri Lanka team led by Tim Sutton and agreed on the proposed 2018-2022 program for SriLanka. It will now go to the UNICEF board in September and hopefully be approved," the Deputy Minister said, in a statement, yesterday.

"It will focus on early childhood programs to get kids into preschool programs, middle childhood issues with respect to quality and relevance of education and adolescent issues on ensuring access to achieve full potential and deal with violence against kids, you'd be surprised at the incidence of both physical and sexual violations; too high at around 15 percent." he added. 

The Deputy Minister extended his gratitude to UNICEF on behalf of nearly 6 million children in Sri Lanka.