Staff struggles as students labor to learn

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 00:04 GMT]
The sight of frolicking school children in clean white, blue uniforms playing inside the fences of Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam along the A9 highway provides a sense of normality to a visitor travelling near Kilinochchi town. However, this blurred picture fails to reveal the background of many children who have lost years of schooling due to war, now struggling to fit-in, and more ominously, does not expose the deficient education the school provides due to lack of facilities and shortage of teachers.

V. Rajakulasingam, Principal, Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam

Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam boasted a student population of nearly 4000 before 1996. Sri Lanka Army's (SLA's) 'Sath Jaya' offensive of July 26th 1996 forced the school to relocate to Akkarayan. Since most families fled Kilinochchi, only about 600 students were able to attend the make-shift school.

Principal Mr. V. Rajakulasingam said that after the school returned to its old premises in Kilinochchi in early 2000, only 400 students attended the school during the first eight months. The student population now stands at 1600, according to the Principal.

K. Ashok Kumar, Grade 11 Art Teacher

"Despite being a first grade educational institution in the district, the school suffers from acute shortage of teachers. Only 37 positions out of a total of 52 are filled. Without laboratory equipment and a library, we are able to provide only basic education to the children. We have kept the broken equipment that we salvaged from the damaged laboratories to show the children how the instruments look like" said Mr. Rajakulasingam.

K.Ashok Kumar, Arts teacher for the 11th Grade, said, "Shortage of furnished classrooms and laboratory facilities present formidable challenge to the staff attempting to provide a well-rounded education to children. With financial support from North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) one building is being built. But this hardly fulfils the needs of the school."



School period schedules displayed in the office shared by principal and other staff

"We are also lagging behind in teaching of history, especially world history, in our schools. Children who will become our future leaders need to be well versed in local and world history to take our nation forward in this increasingly complex world," said a concerned Ashok Kumar.



Grade 11 students inside a bomb damaged class room



Mr.Karunakaran teaches children in the 3rd Grade. "The sidings you see here, built to provide cover from wind and rain, are actually paid for by the children's parents. We are also lucky our class rooms have at least a cement floor where children can sit on mats during classes. The second graders have to sit on clay floors," said Mr. Karunakaran.

Grade 3A boys seated in mats

Karunakaran, Grade 3 teacher

Grade 3A girls, seated on mats on the floor, with class room open to external elements (click for a larger picture)

Grade 5 students work on their own with no replacement for an absentee teacher

Mr. Rajakulasingam said that the school needs about $300,000 to improve the facilities adequate to provide a good education to children. The three laboratories with basic tools will require $150,000, the library, a main building and replacement of temporary sheds will cost another $150,000.

"Although plans for making Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam into a model school with Sri Lanka Government's support started in April 2003," said the Principal, "we cannot afford to wait till this plan materializes, and we can't be certain if the plan will ever take off."