Revival of education in Mullaitivu:

Students show tremendous success in academics

By Dhaneshi Yatawara

Sri Lanka has maintained a higher level of literacy among developing countries – the highest in the South Asian region and one of the highest in Asia over a significant period. The reason behind this is the free education system.

The free education system has elevated the living standards of the people and paved the way for success for many citizens,

Undoubtedly education is an indispensable part of life. Knowledge gained through education has the strength to carry a person forward.

It is the key factor which would lead the country towards sustainable development, especially in the development of backward regions. Based on these core issues special attention has been extended by the Government to improve the standard of education in many backward regions. Among them the Mullaitivu district stands out as an area where mainstream development hardly reached it in the past until terrorism was wiped out.

The education system in Mullaitivu began to revive along with the resettlement process especially infrastructure development. Today, five years after ending terrorism, the Mullaitivu education sector is ready to begin its second phase of development.

Clean environment

“All the schools in the district are functioning. As majority of rebuilding and renovation programs completed, we encourage schools to keep a clean environment suitable for teaching,” said Acting Zonal Director of Education in Mullaitivu, S. Malini. She is the Zonal Education Director for Thunukkai, an area in the immediate neighbourhood of Mullaitivu education zone.

“I have visited Mullaitivu district for inspection during the final phase of resettlement. During that time there were severe damages to schools. But now when I go to the areas I see that more than seventy-five percent of the schools have been rebuilt,” Malini said.

Among the infrastructure development projects that need to be carried out in schools are mainly providing safe drinking water, and proper sanitation facilities. There is more attention on implementing programs to improve the health of the students. “Line ministries are conducting these programs through the Ministry of Education in almost all the schools in the district,” Malini said.

Teachers

Mullaitivu has a healthy teacher-student ratio, though there is a need for teachers in special subjects. “Seventy percent of the teachers are from the Mullaitivu area and thirty percent from Jaffna and other areas in the North. In Mullaitivu there is a well-educated community,” she said.

Students have shown multi-faceted success in academic achievements and in sports, according to her. Kabadi and football seemed to be the most popular in the area as on any holiday you can see youth playing the game in the playground closest to their homes. In sports students have achieved up to national level and possess high potential to develop into excellent sports personalities if supported by sound training.

The percentage of students passing the main hurdle of examinations has been increasing over the past five years, according to Malini. Referring to the 2013 results she said that more than 48% of students passed the GCE Ordinary Level examination.

“Mullaitivu students have always performed well. They have got good results,” she said.

Under the present curriculum, children are taught Sinhala or Tamil apart from their mother tongue. Yet Mullaitivu lacks Sinhala teachers for the Tamil students to learn Sinhala. With the assistance from Northern Province Governor G.A. Chandrasiri teachers for Sinhala were appointed in Weli Oya area on contract basis.

Trend

Now the trend here is the new technological stream, even in the most rural schools in Mullaitivu. “When we do orientation before students start Advanced Level classes we try to promote the science and the new technological streams and a significant number of children prefer to choose that too. It is a good trend because children will get more job opportunities as well as chances for higher education after leaving school,” she explained.

According to 2014 January statistics in the three divisions of the Mullaitivu education zone there are 9,507 boys studying at all levels in schools and more importantly there are more girls studying than boys – 9,824. This is a positive trend specially for a fast developing area like Mullaitivu.

The focus should be on women’s education because the knowledge and empowerment of one woman can bring about a change in a family and even in society. It is the uneducated and illiterate people who think women are not entitled to education. Education of women is a must because the empowerment and knowledge of one woman can revolutionise her family first and society at last.

Education

A revolutionary President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln once said that the philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of government tomorrow. An educated person can differentiate between right and wrong or good and evil. It is the foremost responsibility of a society to educate its citizens.

Education can bring people together as friends. Maybe getting the same level as someone else will bring friendship. It can happen and it does happen and is a positive approach to reconciliation. The importance of education in our life cannot be ignored at any cost. Education is the only way to gain knowledge. The more the society develops the more life becomes dependent on education. A person becomes perfect with education as he is not only gaining something from it, but also contributing to the growth of a nation. Hence, education is not restricted to studying hard and getting good results. It also means conquering new things for the betterment of mankind. An educated person can create a huge difference between wrong and right or evil and good. Education is a social responsibility for every nation.