No money, no school

School days are supposed to be the best part of one's life. However in Sri Lanka, nearly half a million children do not experience this due to many socio-economic problems.

Poverty is the most common factor behind school dropouts. In some areas, small schools have gradually closed down due to poor attendance. While some students are able to get transfers to bigger and better schools, most are left in the lurch.

A survey carried out by the Census and Statistics Department in 1999 on Child Activity shows that 85,906 children are engaged in economic activity to supplement household income. A further 18,589 children are employed in housekeeping activity with 53,330 having dropped out of school due to financial and other difficulties.

Although it is compulsory that children between the ages of 5-17 should attend school, an estimated 431,668 (10% of a total of 4,344,771) children in the age group of 5-17 years do not attend school or any other educational institution, the survey showed. (The Sunday Times 28th May, 2000)

Giving a helping hand...

I first heard of the Rahula Trust back in 1998 and decided to sponsor a child, who is an eleven year-old called Sujatha Nilmini. This year I went on a holiday to Sri Lanka and took the opportunity to pay her a visit. We made our way to the village of Kotiyagaja, Athimale past Monaragala. The road which took us from Monaragala to the village of Kotiyagala was in very poor condition and ran through dry, harsh land with no vegetation.

When we arrived at Sujatha Nilmini’s house, we found it was made of mud, but one side had fallen down completely. There was a hole for a window which was covered with polythene. The roof was made of tiles. We later found out that they had to sell their only two cows to the butcher in order to put a roof over the house. They could not find straw to build a roof because the land was so dry. There was nothing inside the house except for a mat which they had put down knowing that we were coming. There was corn spread out on the ground which was their only source of food.

Sujatha was not back from school when we arrived at her house. Her mother told us that sometimes the three o’clock bus does not come, so she has to wait for the next bus which is not until seven-thirty at night. We drove back up the road to pick up Sujatha. She was wearing a long white dress and was barefoot. She looked malnourished. She has two younger sisters, the smaller being five years old and was dressed in a large T-shirt.

Having had an opportunity to see for myself the difficulties under which families such as Sujatha’s are living, I am very glad to be able to contribute towards her education so that she and her family may achieve a better standard of living in the future.  - Nilanka Jayasuriya -

Report from Mr. W B A Jayasekera, the Representative of the Rahula Trust in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is reputed to have a very high literacy rate but due to economic factors and lack of facilities in rural schools the drop out rate is quite significant.

Education is free and is compulsory for children between ages five to fourteen years. There are however private fee-levying schools in the cities and towns which are accessible only to those above the middle class. While in these schools there is predominantly an English bias the government schools where the education is free have started their English classes only recently.

The investment made by successive governments on the development of the social infrastructure has improved our health care and educational sectors. Unfortunately in terms of economic development we have fallen short of our expectations when we compare with other countries in the region and the gap between the haves and the have nots is widening especially in the rural areas, thus creating marginalised groupings.

In any community the most vulnerable group would be the innocent children and they would be the first casualty. In this situation, the Rahula Trust is playing a vital role in assisting those children who are capable but are unable to continue their studies due to poverty.

There are 75 students so far selected on the above criteria who are receiving assistance and there are sixteen more who have been accepted as suitable by the trustees of the Rahula Trust.

It must be noted that schools in these marginalised areas are also below the average standard in the country due to reasons such as lack of quality teachers, proper facilities and difficulties in transport. With the financial assistance provided by the Trust it is now possible for those children to join a better school in the locality and develop their talent and make their life more comfortable than what their parents can offer.

In remote areas where there is a paucity of teachers and other facilities those children who have a better grading at the island wide grade 5 scholarship test could join a better school which has better facilities using the funding provided by the Rahula Trust for their travelling and other expenses.

However those joining the scheme from grade 5 and below will find this process difficult because this easy access to better schools will depend on the performance at the grade 5 exam. Joining another school with better facilities is based on the results of the grade 5 test. In these cases the parents bear a heavy responsibility in following up the work at school and ensuring that a reasonable mark is achieved at the grade 5 test or in the alternative sending children to a better school to enable them to sit the grade 5 scholarship test.

Elsewhere in the country the selectees have been successful in the scholarship test and have got good gradings. So there is no difficulty for them to gain admission to better schools. Continuous assessment of the performance of the children will be necessary to get optimum results and it might have to be followed until a standardised system is evolved.

The children and their parents are grateful to The Rahula Trust for providing this opportunity for their children to develop themselves. They are thankful for provision of these facilities which they themselves cannot afford. In this context they look forward to continuing assistance.