Jaffna education hit by A9 closure

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 January 2007, 02:19 GMT]
Scarcity of text books, writing implements, exercise books, and shortage of school uniform materials marked the dismal predicament of Jaffna students on the first school day as schools gates opened after New Year 2007, Tuesday, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Unlike their counterparts in the rest of Sri Lanka, students in Jaffna have been deprived of educational supplies due to closure of A9 highway by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).

Acute shortage of nutritional foods has also affected the physical health of student population, and students of both rural and urban schools have to struggle to withstand rigorous educational activity in schools, education officials in Jaffna said.

Worsening security climate have added to the woes of parents adding to stress and fear of insecurity of school age children even at home, health professionals in Jaffna said.

The assistance provided by the World Food Programme agency in supplying cooked food in rural schools has not produced the desired result as more and more parents are sending their children out to perform manual work to supplement family's income.

The urban schools too have now requested International agencies and local authorities to provide their students with cooked meal in the schools to alleviate nutritional problems of students, according to the principals in the town schools.

But, parents complain that child-welfare world agencies in Jaffna are yet to take effective steps to arrest the deteriorating situation of the children.