He noted that during the election campaign he had never mentioned the name of the main opposition candidate at any point and had never criticised his  views. This, he said could be a Guinness record.

President Rajapaksa expressed these views during a meeting with the chief editors, news editors and directors of media institutions last afternoon (05).

The President had stated in response to a question raised during the meeting that he required a 2/3^rd majority in order to remove the obstacle placed by the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution. He pointed out that the independent commissions introduced by the 19^th Amendment are in fact not independent.

Meanwhile, discussions were held at the Presidential Secretariat regarding the  future plans for the Education Ministry. During this meeting the president’s attention was focussed on the decision taken by the Education Ministry to omit political statements and the photographs of politicians from school text books.

President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa also insisted that computer knowledge should be included in the curriculum of all students above grade six. He also issued instructions to transform the 19 teacher training institutions into universities where teachers could obtain degrees in education.