378 ex-LTTE child combatants will sit for the G.C.E Advanced Level (A/L) examination in August. This is out of the 594 ex- LTTE combatants identified from the Government-run rehabilitation centers and the rest will be released after rehabilitation, said the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe. The military conducted a special school for these A/L students within the premises of Vavuniya Tamil Primary school, with the assistance of the Education Ministry. Books, stationery, food and lodging were made available to these ex child soldiers . ‘They had only to study hard’, Brigadier Ranasinghe said.According to Brig Ranasinghe these ex-LTTE child combatants had to stop their education as the LTTE had forcibly recruited them into its fighting units at the expense of their education and wellbeing.According to government sources , 11,800 ex-LTTE cadres have been sent for rehabilitation from welfare centres and 152 among them were sent to the Jaffna University. Around 3,000 former LTTE cadres were released after successfully completing rehabilitation programs and some of them are employed in the private sector.