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| Sunday, 30 May 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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The school that grew out of a flood by Carol Aloysius The year 2003. The month May. Days of continuous rain began pelting the districts of Ratnapura and Kalutara in the Sabaragamuwa district.Marooned and washed out of their homes by the heavy floods,residents in the area fled for their lives leaving behind all their belongings, as the fury of the storm left in its wake a trail of destruction and death. It was an ordeal that remain vividly etched in the memories of those who survived the flood, one of the worst in recent history according to the Met Department.
"We thought we would never get a chance to go back to school", says ten year old Saman and his 12 year old sister Ramya, both keen students who say they rarely kept away from attending school. Fortunately for them and hundreds of others who suffered the same fate, the educational authorities in the area came up with a solution. They admitted these children to another school- one of the very few that had survived the floods, only because it stood on a hillock overlooking a rubber plantation.
Standing at two levels and reached by steps carved into the muddy slopes, the much neglected Meepagama Jayanthi Maha Vidyalaya, which had very limited facilities and only a few classrooms, suddenly found itself bursting at the seams. "It was the only choice the authorities had when they were looking for a school to accommodate the children who had lost their schools due to the flood", explains a teacher. "Conditions were so desperate that classes were being taught in corridors. Several classrooms had two classes being taught at the same time with two teachers sharing a single blackboard," recalls Krishantha Bandara, Service Monitoring Manager of SriLankan Airlines who had made an exhaustive survey of schools affected in the Ratnapura and Kalutara districts, shortly after the floods, in order to help in their rehabilitation. "SriLankan Airlines had already been an active participant in the flood relief efforts. The airline's staff donated, collected and distributed food, medicines, clothes and other essential items . In addition the National Carrier ferried a large amount of relief items collected by organisations in Europe and Southeast Asia, free of charge to the affected areas". But the airline wanted to do more than merely 'help out' during a crisis period. " The general consensus among the airline management and staff was that it was not sufficient to provide assistance only during the floods. So we decided to do something more permanent, like rebuilding a specific area that had been destroyed by the flood which would be of direct help to the residents.", Bandara adds. As so many schools had been destroyed by the floods, the idea was mooted to rebuild a deserving school. After an exhaustive search of the Ratnapura and Kalutara district , Bandara identified Meepagama Jayanthi Maha Vidyalaya at Kalawana as the most deserving choice. "Most of the students attending the school are among the poorest of the poor in Sabaragamuwa, whose parents had lost everything in the floods. They were in need of books, clothes, shoes and proper nutrition as well", he points out. G. D. Somalatha whose son and daughter attend year 4 and 5 classes in the school says that this was the first time her children had a dentist and eye specialist from Colombo examining them. "My husband and I are rubber tappers and we have no money to take them to specialist doctors. My son was given a pair of spectacles and my daughter a pair of shoes by the airline, for which my husband and I are so grateful", she says. To put his plans of rehabilitating the school into gear, Bandara met with the staff of the school and then drew up a formal plan for its development before presenting it to the senior management of the SriLankan Airlines. Construction work began last November and in less than six months a sleek new building that serves as classrooms and an auditorium and a fully equipped playground for junior students sprang up from what was originally bare neglected plot of land on the uppermost level of the school. Commanding a spectacular view of the Singaraja forest on one side and the twin peaks of the Kukulugala mountains on the other side and overlooking a plateau of rubber and tea plantations, the new building aptly named 'Mayura' after the airline, stands as a beacon of hope for the students of the school. "SriLankan Airlines has made a commitment to uplift society through a large number of social responsibility projects of which the rehabilitation of the Meepagama Jayanthi Maha Vidyalaya is one. Raising this school from its humble beginnings to the highest possible standards and giving these children a bright and promising future is our main goal," says Peter Hill who ceremonially declared open the building last week. "Empowering students with a sound education and giving them training in Information Technology will definitely equip them with skills for future employment", he adds. The building , designed by the Properties and Facilities Department of SriLankan Airlines at the cost of six million rupees, comprises seven classrooms for students in years 11, 12 and 13.Each classroom is separated by partitions that can be moved aside to turn the building into a hall for a special occasion. One of the classrooms has been built on an elevated floor to serve as the stage , making it the largest hall in the Kalawana educational region. Among some of its special features are, a sound system with amplifier and microphones, green boards (more user-friendly than blackboards), lockable cupboards for each classroom, toilets, and modern furniture. The area outside the building is being landscaped and the approach road which was mud and sand is now being converted into a tarred road. "We are giving these children a proper future as we would want our own children to have," says Ramani Jayasinghe, Senior Executive Promotions who is the joint co-ordinator of the program with Bandara. She adds, "this is not a short-term project, but rather, a long-term one which will last for many years hopefully through a sustained program of activities". The project is multi-faceted. On one hand facilities such as buildings and modern equipment are being provided by the airline. One the other, the level of education is being raised by providing the students IT training, she says, referring to the new air-conditioned computer room which was also commissioned on May 19. This room is equipped with 24 PCs and additional equipment such as UPSs and printers, all of them gifted by the airlines. "These PCs are networked and the room includes multi media. The room will be used for IT and computer based education for other subjects. Prior to the opening some of the teachers at the school were brought down at the expense of the airlines and trained in the use of the computers. "They will go back and train the other teachers and students", say the teacher in charge of the programme. Commenting on the innovative creations by the students at an exhibition held on the same day, Peter Hill observed that he had been, " amazed at the creativity and originality of the students here who have barely any facilities . It shows that given the new facilities, they will forge ahead with their talents to be an asset to their country someday. I also hope that some of the students would soon become part of the airline family by joining when they leave the school. They will make excellent ambassadors of goodwill judging from their performance today". For the erstwhile barefoot schoolchildren of Meepagama Jayanthi Maha Vidyalaya, the rehabilitation of their school by this airline with a purpose and a mission, has certainly opened a new door to a brighter tomorrow. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Podimenike, a rubber tapper who lives at the bottom of a hill in
Kalawana Ratnapura, recalls how all her furniture, kitchen utensils, and
the clothes of her husband and children were swept away by the waters that
had gushed into their thatched roofed house. "The worst affected were
my two children who lost all their school books including their pencils,
erasers and rulers, and worst of all their school which was washed
away.", she says.
