"The indoctrination of trapped school communities ... with programs highlighting images of war and the enemy is a serious violation of the vulnerability and dignity of our children, and must be condemned," said Chickera in a July 27 statement.

The bishop's statement followed an education department directive for schools to celebrate the "victory" of government forces who last week captured Toppigala jungle, the final stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa.

"In war, there are no winners and losers," Chickera said. "The recent escalation of the war agenda and war euphoria through special commemorative events is cause for concern."

Pointing out that "children are the real wealth and potential of our nation," the Anglican leader cautioned "all who love and care for children, especially parents, educationalists, teachers and religious leaders, to counter this trend."

Santha Fernando, spokesperson for the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, told Ecumenical News International on July 27: "We fully endorse the bold stand Bishop Chickera has taken on this ... Forcing school children to celebrate victory in an ethnic conflict is equal to forcing them to join the war."

Sri Lankan military forces launched attempts to flush out the Tamil rebels from their pockets around Batticaloa a year ago. The action is said to have claimed hundreds of lives on both sides, and to have displaced more than a quarter of a million Tamil civilians.

The celebrations that have been called for, Fernando said, would only "corrupt young minds and deepen the ethnic divide."

Since 1983, more than 70,000 people have died in the Tamil rebels' bloody campaign for autonomy for ethnic Tamil areas in the north and east of the country.

Ethnic Tamils account for 18 percent of Sri Lanka's 19 million people, while Sinhala-speakers, who are mainly Buddhists, account for 70 percent of the population of this Indian Ocean island.

The Diocese of Colombo is one of two in the Church of Ceylon -- Sri Lanka’s Anglican Church -- which is extraprovincial under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.