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| Sunday, 2 January 2005 |
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Junior Observer |  |
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Peace is what we need The history of mankind is dotted with wars and disputes. Since the beginning of human civilization, man has fought innumerable number of wars and battles. History provides lots of evidence as to why people fought these wars and battles.Most of them were due to land disputes.
Now we are in the new millennium, but yet we don't see any signs of human disputes coming to an end. Today, humans are clashing with each other because of communal rivalries. In Sri Lanka, the ethnic conflict resulted in a 20-year war. This war has claimed thousands of lives and caused immense destruction to property. Battles are fought among countries or continents, but it is always man fighting against man. Man uses his intelligence, natural resources and modern technology for his own destruction. Developments made in science and technology have become a vital advantage to those fighting against each other. There should be mutual understanding among nations to solve this problem. Causes for disputes should be uprooted and poverty should be eliminated. Religious leaders should preach the value of peace. Peace should be established in the minds of individuals. The concept of peaceful co-existence should be introduced at school level. The right of living for every human being should be emphasized. Religions have an important role to play in bringing peace to the world. Then, we can hope the world will be a more beautiful place in future. Sent by Nilumi Ishara Weerasinghe, Rathnawali Balika Vidyalaya, Gampaha. Help - the crying need The natural disaster that struck our little island nation and many other countries in the Asian region on December 26 has caused untold misery to many, not only in the affected areas, but also in other parts of the country. Thousands are dead, many more are injured and about a million people have been displaced. People all over the country have lost their loved ones, their property and everything they owned. Their loss and grief cannot be expressed in words. Little children like you have become orphans overnight. Some are shocked beyond words, and are unable to utter a word as endless tears roll down their cheeks. The entire nation is in trauma. This is the time we should rise up as one nation, one people, putting aside our ethnic, religious and cultural differences to help and support each other.It is also the time to wake up to the reality that life is uncertain and it is not worth fighting or oppressing each other over land, religion or anything else for that matter. Even you can help the victims of this disaster in your own little way. Do whatever you can to help those who are in need. Help is the crying need of the hour. It will take ages for life to come back to normal in our little island and we should do everything possible to help make it so. ADB to improve secondary education The Asian Development Bank, a leading donor agency, has approved a US$ 35 million loan to improve Sri Lanka's secondary education system. The ADB said the new project will upgrade around 1,100 schools which are not supported under its ongoing Secondary Education Modernisation Project and other projects it has funded. The main objectives of this project are to support the government's strategy of improving the quality and management efficiency of secondary education, make it more responsive to labour market requirements, increase access to quality education and promote education for social integration. Although Sri Lanka has achieved positive results in basic education, the investment made on education is low, resulting in variations in the quality of education. Only 40 per cent of Ordinary Level students qualify for Advanced Levels; 50 per cent fail Mathematics and 70 per cent fail English. There are also regional differences in the pass rates. The project will upgrade target schools that do not meet acceptable standards in terms of physical facilities, teaching and learning resources, teachers' skills and school management. This will reduce variations across regions, gender and race and work towards ensuring that every school can successfully teach the required subjects. Aside from improving the existing buildings, equipment and furniture, the project will modernize the curriculum and teaching methods by providing science laboratories, computer rooms, multimedia units and libraries. A project will also be conducted to improve information technology skills in rural areas. Allowances will also be given to selected students in rural areas and conflict affected areas to encourage them. The North and East and Nuwara Eliya district will receive special attention and Tamil speaking teachers will be deployed to teach subjects like Science, Mathematics, English and Information Technology. The project is estimated to cost a total of US$ 47 million, of which US$ 10.3 million will come from the government and $1.7 million from the beneficiaries. The ADB loan will meet 74.4 per cent of the total cost. The Ministry of Education will carry out the project, which is due for completion in December 2009. |
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When society became more civilized, the causes for these disputes also
increased. Nations began to fight against nations. Rulers of bigger
countries fought to capture smaller countries.
