A week after the government's defeat at the Local Government Polls, President Maithripala Sirisena today halted the programme to distribute Tabs among school children. 

The programme was started with much media fanfare and it was in synch with the Education Ministry's 'smart classroom' project. 

The Education Ministry had ambitious plans to allocate Rs. 4 billion for the project which was designed to benefit nearly 160000 students and over 36000 school teachers at the initial stage. 

The President, speaking at the Cabinet meeting, said the amount of money allocated for the tab project could be used for "more important work" at this juncture. 

The majority of Cabinet ministers were also of the view that the election results had indicated that people showed little interest in tech-based projects. 

Following the Cabinet decision, the initiative by the Education Ministry to familiarize school children with Tabs, came to an abrupt end, Education Ministry sources said.