With the stage set for the 2026 Ju­nior So­ca com­pe­ti­tion fi­nals, Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath has promised the event will be a safe zone for stu­dent per­form­ers.

Speak­ing at yes­ter­day’s of­fi­cial draw to de­ter­mine their per­for­mance po­si­tions, Dowlath con­grat­u­lat­ed the 22 fi­nal­ists rep­re­sent­ing 11 pri­ma­ry schools and nine sec­ondary schools.

He em­pha­sised the val­ue of school Car­ni­val pro­grammes, say­ing the min­istry is com­mit­ted to in­vest­ing in cul­ture through the ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem.