Editorial

Security

Politics

World

Letters

Sports

Obituaries

Archives

Plans to improve zoological gardens

The Government plans to revive the construction work of the Pinnawala Open Zoological Garden, which had been abandoned for some time.

It plans to sign an agreement with the RSW Institute of Britain, to get funds to the tune of 300 million sterling pounds in this regard, said Zoological and Botanical Gardens Development Minister, Bandula Basnayaka, during a recent visit to the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawala.

The foundation stone for this zoo was laid by the late Minister, Dharmasiri Senanayaka in 1998, but the construction work was later abandoned. The Government hopes to buy a 400 acre land for this purpose. It will be Sri Lanka's second zoo, and will generate about 6,500 direct and indirect jobs.

Meanwhile, the bathing pond at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage should be deepened, so that more room is available for the elephants to play and frolic during their bathing time, the Minister said at a separate meeting at his Ministry.

Also, through proper landscaping, the area around the pond should also be made more pleasant and attractive, he said.

Speaking on the three-month accelerated development plan implemented by the Ministry, with the intention of promoting botanical and zoological gardens, the Minister said that it has progressed during the last two months.

Work on the Dehiwala Zoo Swan Lake modernisation project was nearing completion, while a waste recycling project was in operation at the zoo.

Renovation work of the Butterfly Park will also be completed soon.

They will shortly be calling for tenders for the widening of the cages for jaguars and tigers, and expect to complete work on the open Elephant Park too.

Medicinal herb gardens in schools

Do you enjoy gardening? Some of you must have taken up gardening as an activity at school, and may be busy tending to plants, watering flower beds, and making the school premises clean and attractive.

Besides just having decorative plants and flower beds, you can also grow medicinal herbs in the school gardens. Schools in the Bingiriya electorate have now taken up just this task.

Principals of schools in this electorate have taken steps to cultivate rare medicinal herbs in their school gardens, during this year. They will be carrying out this project according to the instructions of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Indigenous Medicine of the North Western Province.

Accordingly, 48 gardens of medicinal herbs will be set up in rural schools. The help of parents' societies and past pupils' associations will be forthcoming for this programme.

The Indigenous Medicine Ministry has consented to help the project by providing high quality seeds and seedlings of medicinal herbs. More than 45,000 herbs are to be grown in school premises, with the intention of educating rural schoolchildren on the traditional systems of medicinal treatments, which have been handed down to us over the years.

Disparity in mastery of school subjects

There is a vast disparity between urban and rural students achieving mastery in the English language, the World Bank said recently, quoting the National Education Research and Evaluation Centre of the Colombo University. While 23 per cent of urban students achieve mastery in this subject, the figure is only seven per cent for rural areas.

This gap exists with regard to other subjects as well, the funding agency said. The proportion of students achieving mastery in mathematics is 52 per cent (urban) and 35 per cent (rural), while the ratio of students achieving mastery in their mother language is 51 per cent (urban) to 34 per cent (rural).

The Bank emphasised that a poor knowledge of one's mother language was a serious constraint to further education, as such further studies were usually based on the mother tongue.

The lack of English language skills meanwhile hampered the country's future economic prospects, as most segments of the economy draw on English language skills.

However, the World Bank commended the level of access to primary education in Sri Lanka. Ninety five per cent of children, both boys and girls, complete their primary education.

The Ides of March

February is almost over and March is just around the corner. Have you heard the term 'The Ides of March', which is associated with this month? What do you know about it?

The term comes from the early Roman calendar devised by Romulus, who was the mythical founder of Rome. This calendar was rather complex and was based around three principal days: Kalends (the first day of the month), Nones (the seventh day of March, May, July and October and the fifth day of the other months) and Ides (the 15th day of March, May, July and October and the 13th day of the other months). Each of these days counted as the reference points to the other days of the calendar. The unnamed days were identified by counting backwards from these days.

So, the Ides of March fell on the 15th day of the Roman month of Martius (this corresponds to March 14 in the modern day calendar, due to differences in the way the months were calculated). The Ides were considered as an auspicious day, by the Romans.

Although the Roman calendar was replaced with the modern one around the third century AD, this term continued to be used by people. Nowadays, the Ides of March are considered with a sense of foreboding, although it wasn't so during Roman times.

A reason may be that Julias Caesar was killed on such a day in 44BC. According to the Roman writer Plutarch, Caesar had been warned of the danger to his life during the Ides, but had ignored it. The evil association with the day may have also taken root due to the line "Beware the Ides of March" used by Shakespeare in his play 'Julias Caesar' in 1599.

However, the term is nothing to be scared of, and is only another way to refer to March 15 and is one of a dozen Ides which occur throughout the year.

Snippets

Trouble in the deep sea

Many species of whales, porpoises and dolphins use sonar to communicate, navigate and hunt. But sonar is also used for military and exploratory purposes in the deep seas. And this, contend environmentalists, is a threat to 71 kinds of cetaceans.

The United Nations Environment Programme and Convention on Migratory Species has listed the Beluga whale, the Blanville's beaked whale and Goosebeak whale as seriously at risk. Other studies have shown that the Beluga whale may also be affected by the sounds caused by ice breaking ships.

Low frequency sounds travel huge distances, and this can cause the sound-dependent animals to be disoriented. Some animal protection groups have also argued that it causes bleeding from the eyes and ears, as seen in the 2002 tests on the bodies of seven whales, which found haemorrhages and inner ear damage attributed to the use of low frequency sonar.

The U.S. Navy, which was sued by a coalition of environmental groups, said it was studying the problem, and that sonar was essential for national defence.

Courtesy : The Hindu

| News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security | Politics |
| World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries | Magazine | Junior Observer |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.