Akila Viraj Kariyawasam

Hon. Akila Viraj Kariyawasam MP
අකිල විරාජ් කාරියවසම් அகில விராஜ் காரியவசம்ஷ
Minister of Education
In office 13 January 2015 – 21 November 2019
President	Maithripala Sirisena
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe
Preceded by	Bandula Gunawardane
Succeeded by	Dullas Alahapperuma
Member of Parliament for Kurunegala District
In office 2004–2020
Personal details
Born	(1973-05-23) 23 May 1973
Political party	United National Party
Profession	Lawyer

Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, also spelled Akila Wiraj Kariyawasam, is a Sri Lankan politician and lawyer (Template:Lang-si, Template:Lang-ta; born 23 May 1973). He was first elected to the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka in 2004. He served as the Minister of Education of Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2019.

Akila is the current Deputy Secretary of the United National Party, a party that was once headed by the great freedom fighter and Father of the Nation, Hon. D. S. Senanayake.

Early life

He was born as the fifth son of a family of six children. His father, William Godage Kariyawasam. His father,Mr William Godage Kariyawasam was served as the Registrar of the state university system and later established himself as a prominent business personality and his mother is Mrs. Allen Kariyawasam who was the caring beacon to the family.

Akila Kariyawasam complete his graduation from the University of Colombo in Economics, Political Science, and International Relations. Later, he pursued his secondary degree in Law at the Open University of Sri Lanka.

In 1995, Kariyawasam was appointed as the Chairman of the National Youth Front, Kuliyapitiya chapter. In 1996, he was appointed as the District Chairman of the National Youth Front in Kuliyapitiya District, and later as the executive committee of the National Youth Front. He held these positions while he was a student of the Colombo University.

Career

Kariyawasam participated in the 2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election. He was appointed as the organizer of the Panduwasnuwara electorate. Later, he was elected to the parliament, securing 83,114 votes at the 2004 parliamentary election.

In 2005, he was appointed as the organizer of the Kuliyapitiya electorate. He became the chairman of the National Youth Front in 2007. He secured the second-highest vote count from Kurunegala district in the 2010 parliamentary election.

In the 2015 parliamentary election, he elected against the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who represented the Kurunegala district. He was able to lead the list of United National Party (UNP) preferential votes in the Kurunegala district and was able to secure the second most votes on the island. On January 12, 2015, he was appointed as the Minister of Education in the newly formed government.

Kariyawasam served as the Secretary of both the United National Party (UNP) and the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya, the trade union representing the working class in Sri Lanka. He remained associated with the United National Party until January 13, 2021.

He currently holds the position of assistant leader within the United National Party. From 2015 to 2019, he held the position of Minister of Education.

Sources

• "AKILA WIRAJ KARIYAWASAM". Directory of Members. Parliament of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010.