Schoolchildren must learn to value their heritage

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane recently expressed the view that schoolchildren should be educated on natural and man-made disasters that destroy our national treasures and heritage in addition to their general school education.

Referring to the forest fire that destroyed valuable forest cover in the Knuckles Range, the Minister said schoolchildren must be taught the value of our natural heritage and how to take precautionary measures to minimize such desasters.

According to Minister Gunawardane, children from their tender age could play a major role in preventing man-made disasters and even natural disasters, which are taking place at unprecedented levels around the world.

He said, schoolchildren could help to stop man-made disasters such as forest fires and the destruction of forest cover for timber, which badly affects the rain patterns and also impacts the water resources in the country.

Children could also step in to prevent the pollution of valuable water resources by elders by their careless actions such as dumping of waste such as plastic and polythene to canals, rivers and other water bodies.

"Children should be educated on the importance of preserving our valuable ancient heritage and the action taken against those engaged in treasure hunting."

He said as the children are the wealth of the nation and the inheritors of the country in the future they should only engage in educational activities. They should not do anything else that could distrupt their education .

He said children should not take part in demonstrations and protests to win demands, as such campaigns could have a massive impact on destabilising their educational activities.

Referring to a recent incident in a school in the Uva Province, the Minister said it is not necessary for schoolchildren to take the law into their hands and protest against teacher shortages in their schools. He said it is the responsibility of the Government to resolve such matters, and at present the Government is taking action to rectify such shortcomings.

Didula shows his colours, again!

Text and Pix: K.K.D. Premalal -Matugama Special Cor.

"Necessity is the mother of invention'. Perhaps young Asuramuni Didula Loliya of Matugama is someone who lives by this maxim. Both his inventions, an eco-friendly chalk duster and a mobile colour light stand have been inspired by an urgent need to overcome the numerous hazards faced in the two particular areas; school and traffic control.

He initially invented the duster on realising the health hazards and the inconvenience caused as a result of using a normal cloth or duster to clean the blackboard at school. Now, after witnessing a tragic accident where a pedestrian was knocked down while crossing the road even when a traffic police officer was on duty, he had come up with a more advanced invention, the mobile colour light stand to ease the problems faced by the traffic police.

Controlling road traffic is no easy task at any given time. It becomes twice as hard when one has to do so on heavily congested roads.

Most of you would have seen traffic police struggling with their task in the sweltering heat amid the dust and the fumes and even during a heavy shower. It is in this context that Didula 's ingenious invention becomes extremely valuable.

At a time when road accidents are escalating due to the heavy traffic and carelessness of both drivers and pedestrians, the need for stricter control of traffic is important.

However, as there are no proper traffic lights at all strategic intersections the traffic police are compelled to step in to ease the congestion and prevent accidents, come rain or shine. Didula's novel invention, which needs to be modified of course, could be of great use to help traffic police to carry out their duties sans the hazards.

"The traffic police are on the road in spite of the bad weather conditions. They have to control traffic using hand signals. The drivers pay special attention to traffic lights. So, I thought of inventing a new mobile colour light stand which they could use,"says Didula.

He always uses discarded material for his inventions. To make the new mobile colour light stand, he has used some empty paint containers, parts of a torch, a lower part of a pedestal fan, a remote controller of a toy car, a rechargeable torch, some conduit pipes, a plastic box, a metal box, aluminium box bars, a battery and a circuit of rechargeable torch and some wire.

This new mobile colour light stand can be operated with a remote controller that enables the traffic police to control it from a distance without having to stand in the middle of the road.

As the hands on the stand gives clear signals to stop the vehicles with an alarm, even blind people can cross the road when the alarm is on. The colour light stand is powered by a charged battery so it can be used for three to four days. Therefore, the electricity consumption too is minimal.

The mobile colour light stand can be used during rush hours, especially before schools open and soon after schools close for the day.

Didula who is a Grade Six student says that he can balance his studies and his inventive work well. "I always work according to a time table. I spend nearly 3-4 hours a week to gather ideas for my idea bank and also engage in work related to the inventions while paying attention to my studies," says the young inventor who hails from a village called Hiriketiya in Matugama.

He hopes to come up with more inventions in the future once he improves the two inventions he has already made with the help of the University of Moratuwa. "I hope to design a special gate for unprotected railway crossings in the future," he says.

Didula Loliya is strongly supported by his parents Asuramuni Geethananda and Geetha Sandamali in his endeavours. The IGP N.K. Illangakoon has also encouraged him to improve his invention further so that it could be used mainly in the vicinity of schools. He hopes to apply for the patent for his product shortly. The Principal of St. Mary's College, Matugama Jayasiri Gajadeera who is highly impressed by his student's talents says , "Didula has made the school proud twice in the recent past. We always encourage students to come up with inventions that help us lead a better life."

There are many talented students in our midst especially in rural areas. They are like flowers that bloom in the jungle and wither, spreading the sweet fragrance in the unknown jungle.

Didula is an exception among the majority of students who are mostly only exam-oriented and have no time to explore their talents at research and inventions. He has set an example to the entire student community by sharing how to combine studies and extra curricular activities.