Jaffna students call off boycott

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 October 2006, 00:30 GMT]
Jaffna District Student Federation called off the 3-week long boycott following a conference held between Jaffna Bishop, Rev. Fr. Thomas Saundaranayagam, and the representatives of the Federation, held at the Bishop's House at 3.00 pm Wednesday. The Directors of Education, Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University, professors, lecturers and a number of well-wishers discussed the impact of boycott in the education and submitted a memorandum urging the Government of Sri Lanka to create conditions conducive for education, sources in Jaffna said.

Student Representatives handed over a memorandum with 5 demands, to the Bishop to be sent to the Government of Sri Lanka. The conference attendees placed the following demands:

1. Intimidation and harassment by Sri Lanka security forces towards the students in the Peninsula must be stopped,
2. To create a situation conducive for the students to learn peacefully, the curfew should be lifted immediately and artillery bases and military points located near the schools should be removed,
3. Interference of the Forces in the school administration should be stopped, patrol and positioning of the Forces in proximity of schools should be avoided, cordon and search operations and imposing sudden curfews in the school hours also should be avoided,
4. Sri Lanka security forces and paramilitaries should stop killings and kidnappings, and
5. All the roads that are closed for the public but used by the Sri Lanka security forces should be opened for public use.

The schools are expected to function from next Monday.