Fresh air up North

Text and pictures- Dinesh De Alwis

The sun is rising over the Palmyrah canopy with new hopes. Fresh winds are blowing. Early in the morning roads are filled with schoolchildren. Some are coming to school riding their bicycles. Some are coming on foot. Today, children in the Northern Province are enjoying a fresh breath of freedom after the three-decade.

The war has ended. At the final stage of the war children of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu had to give-up studies because they were forced to act as a human shield for the LTTE. But today sons and daughters in those districts are dreaming about new educational horizons.

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had organized a two-day tour to Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu with a group of local print journalists.

The tour enabled journalists to witness post war education development as part of the UN's celebrations of the International Day of Peace.

The aim of the tour was to monitor and evaluate the rehabilitation of school libraries. This also gave us an opportunity to assess these children's present situation. This is their happy story. Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalam situated at the centre of the Kilinochchi town was re-opened last January and at the moment has 1,200 students. But at that time they did not have a library.

Under UNESCO's 'Education for peace and sustainable development program' they got a new school library last month.

Library

"Now I am going to school again. I am very happy. I stay some time in the library after school. Then I can read some story books". That is the voice of a child in grade 5 at Kilinochchi MV.

During the discussions with schoolchildren, we found that there was only one English teacher in the school for 1,200 students.

Children studying under a tree and others reading books at the Yogapuram Mana Vidyalam library in Mullaitivu

"The children have a good library. One period is compulsory as a library period. The children are keen on reading. I am grateful to the Sri Lankan government and UNESCO for their support, the school principal said.

At the moment, 81 schools are functioning in the Kilinochchi Education Zone. There are another 20 schools to be re-opened. Government will re-open these schools as soon as possible, said Zonal education officials. There are 24,791 students and 1,275 teachers within the Kilinochchi education zone. While we were journeying to Maasaar Government Tamil Mixed School in Pallai, we saw children studying under Palmyra trees.

The roof of the school building was destroyed by shell attacks. There are just few teachers. Most of them are volunteers. UNESCO plans to provide books and library facilities for this school as well. UNESCO has already rebuilt two libraries, Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalam and Yogapuram M.V. in Mullaitivu. They have planned to provide books and library services to another 18 schools in the severely conflict affected areas that will be rebuilt by UNICEF. The objective is to enhance the reading habit to benefit over 10,000 students.

Our next destination was Yogapuram Maha Vidyalam in Mallavi. All the 500 children in this school have come from IDP camps.

"In the IDP camp, we had only few books to read. Those books were given by the Army. But now we have a UNESCO library. There are lot of books to read. I can now use the computer, said a grade 6 student, very proudly.

Books on history

"The children mostly read books on history, Geography and story books. Their reading habit has improved. We want some more books," said Yogapuram MV librarian.

UNESCO is supporting Sri Lanka's efforts to achieve the Education for All Goals by 2015. In the North it has provided books, journals, publications, training, a mobile library, IT equipment and wifi connectivity to the Jaffna Library, as well as sports and film projection equipment to IDPs.

"The extent of damage to the schools we seek to assist necessitates a phased approach. We will first meet the urgent requirement of library books. We will then address librarian training and when the buildings are repaired we can think of other facilities,"said UNESCO liaison Shehan Ratnavale.

Peace and sustainability

"In the near future UNESCO is planning to launch several initiatives related to sustainable development. Among them, assisting the government to implement a National Policy and a comprehensive framework of actions for peace and sustainable development is a major one.

The Education Ministry, UNICEF, GTZ and other stakeholders will support that project.

This is expected to be launched in February 2011, with the support of the National Sustainable Development Council, headed by the President and will be a national level effort, indeed a challenging task, UNESCO Sri Lanka National Commission Secretary General Prithiviraj Perera said.

Sri Lanka joined UNESCO on November 14, 1949. Sri Lanka's efforts towards peace have been supported by UNESCO every time. History has proven that education is a vital resource for building a new society out of the debris of war.