At the first educational exhibition:

Children of North and South showcase talents

By Shanika Sriyananda

It was a demonstration about the automatic water supply system. The teenage girl explained how it works, to the visitors in the classroom which displayed many innovative items. “ This is to save water”, she said, answering questions and washing her hands at the tap which works when hands reach the tap. Arimeththana Ganeshan (15), was demonstrating the project of Grade 11 students of St. Theresa Girls' College, Kilinochchi.She explained how the tap works to all the visitors and the next visitor was the Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera, the chief guest at the Educational Fair held at the Kilinochchi Maha Vilayalaya.

The chief guest Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera being conducted to the venue. Pix: Susantha Wijegunasekara

Primary students view the exhibits

“ We started it as a project before the exhibition. It is a group activity and we invented it to prevent small children wasting clean drinking water at the school. It is still in the experimental stage”, she explained in fluent English.Maj. Gen. Perera who listened to her carefully said “ well done”. Four years ago Arimeththana was running for her life with thousands of civilians herded by the LTTE when the soldiers captured Kilinochchi. “ My father, a literature teacher asked us to take only the valuables – our books”, the teenager recalled the days of horror where she had seen blood and terror. Ending up in a bunker in Puthumathalan, she and her two brothers had sleepless nights in the bunker. “But, when there were no sounds of gun fire we used to read books as there was nothing else to do. Our father was also with us in the bunker as they threatened to take him to work”, she recalled.

Ask any student in Kilinochchi, and they all have similar stories to share. But two weeks ago, they learnt the meaning of an exhibition at the first ever Educational Exhibition held at the Kilinochchi Maha Viyalaya from June 28 to 30 .It was a unique exhibition which created a bridge to connect the North with the South. For the first time in recent history the students of Kilinochchi and the South got together to display their talents under one venue.

The Educational Exhibition was organised by the Security Force Kilinochchi under the guidance of SF Commander Maj. Gen. Perera among 121 Government Schools in Kilinochchi to provide an opportunity for the children to express their ideas. With 121 schools in Kilinochchi, Royal College, Colombo, Dhrmaraja College – Kandy, St. Aloysius National College - Ratnapura, Richmond College , Galle, Defence Services College, Colombo, Jaffna T.M. , Vavuniya Maha Vidyalayam and the universities of Peradeniya, Moratuwa, Jaffna and Rajarata joined to display their art work and innovations at the exhibition.

As many as 6,500 visitors came to the Kilinochchi Maha Vidiyalaya to view the talents of their children. Over 1,550 scholarships worth more than Rs 8 million, received from Governor, Northern Province (Rs. 5 Million), MAS Holdings Pvt. Ltd (Rs. 2.5 million) and the soldiers of the SF Kilinochchi, were distributed to the schoolchildren at the exhibition. The students of North and the South have called out for one thing in common,

PEACE. Arimaththana and her friends had seen an automatic water supply system at the Kilinochchi Hospital and on TV and it encouraged them to try out their own invention. There are many budding inventors who displayed several new inventions at the exhibition. The children of Kilinochchi were caught in one of the fiercest battles and lost everything they had. So, it is amazing to see how they have come up with wonderful inventions. Seetha Senaratne, the art teacher of Royal College who came with the students of the College to display their art and craft and to have a workshop for the Kilinochchi children said the children who faced many traumas in life were talented and full of creativity.“ This is first time we are in Kilinochchi and I think it is a great opportunity to be with these children. We teach with lots of facilities but here with less facilities they have done well. We appreciate the opportunity given to us to teach some of the techniques to these children”, she said.Senaratne said when Royal College announced about the trip to Kilinochchi, many students requested to join but only the best were selected.

“I think it is a bridge to make friends and hope they will continue in their friendship to help and learn each others talents” she said explaining about the workshop and competition conducted by the College.Yuwan Mithsen, a Grade 13 student of Royal College, who won many medals for his drawings, said they wanted to help the children of Kilinochchi to brush up their talents.

“Their drawings are excellent when compared to the life they spent four years ago. This is our first visit to Kilinochchi and are happy to have new friends. We hope we could learn more from each other”, he said.The mathematics lab with innovative methods to make children love mathematics was one of the popular stalls at the exhibition. Conducted by the students of Defence College Colombo, 24 boys and seven girls, explained to their friends through a teacher who translate it to Tamil.

With no language barrier, students flock to the room to learn new methods in solving mathematic problems on additions, deductions and multiplications.

Dharmasiri Hingodage – the architect of the Mathematics Lab project said it would be a novel experience for these children and they were very inquisitive to know about new methods. “ Here, we teach mathematics as a mental stimulator to make it easy for children. When they love mathematics, it is easy for them to solve the issues. Rangei Chelvam, the Principal of Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalaya said it is a well organised exhibition and all children, teachers and parents had a new experience.

They had never seen an educational fair before and are happy as it helps to improve their skills”, he said. He said upgrading education was the main concern in Kilinochchi. “ These children had suffered a lot due to the war on terrorism and they lost the opportunity for quality education. Now they have the opportunity. Over 33 students of Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalaya lost both parents due to the war on terrorism, while some others come from single parent families”, Chelvam, who was in Puthumathalan, the last patch of land where the LTTE held thousands of civilians as hostage and then lived in the welfare centre in Vavuniya, said.