Vavuniya protest to demand release of abducted TRO employees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 April 2006, 19:59 GMT]
Staff, children and parents of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala Preschools in Vavuniya are to protest Tuesday, 4th April in Vavuniya demanding the safety and release of the seven Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) staffers who were abducted on 29-30 January and are still missing, TRO officials in Vavuniya said. Mr. Kasinathar Ganeshalingam, TRO's Pre School Education Development Center (PSEDC) North-East Province Secretary, is also one of the missing staffers.

Kathirkamar Thangarasa, Thanuskody Premini, Shanmuganathan Sujendram, Thambiraja Vasantharajan, Kailayapillai Ravindran and Arunesarasa Satheesharan are the other six missing members. Amnesty International has expressed grave concerns for their safety in an action release issued second week of March.

PSEDC has declared the period upto 31 December 2006 as the Pre-School development year and have been conducted or planned to conduct special awareness discussion in 1000 of the more than 3000 such pre-schools operating in the NorthEast.

PSEDC also have established joint savings account for 3000 of the 82,362 students currently enrolled in preschool activities, similar savings accounts for 3500 of the 5157 pre-School teachers, and have organized skills advancement training for the most promising teachers, TRO officials said. PSEDC also has encouraged teachers to instill a sense of environmental awareness in children by organizing sapling plantation and other environment friendly projects.