Ananda College Prefects Guild equips:

Thalawegama Kanishta Vidyalaya

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Almost 53 kilometers from the remote town of Mahiyangana towards Ampara, is a school with a large heart but with severe dearth of facilities. Coming by bus one needs to get down and pass 45 kilometers from Mahiyanganaya and walk another eight kilometers to reach this school - Thalawegama Kanishta Vidyalaya.

Around 100 children study in the school and almost all the children reach the school travelling several kilometers on foot. Facing a severe water shortage during the drought season, students have to travel more than half a kilometer to find drinking water trekking through a jungle path where snakes and elephants are not rare.

“The school never had an English teacher. Children love sports but we don’t have sports equipment,” said Principal, Thilak Ratnayake. Yet with great effort and enthusiasm the children and the teachers somehow hold an annual sports meet.

Yet they do not have a teacher for physical training. “Early this year a charity organisation promised to give a donation worth Rs. 5000 for the children yet it never happened,” Principal Ratnayake said. Educating children of a community where the majority of parents are farmers or ‘chena’ cultivators, the school cannot expect much help from them.

Parents themselves are struggling to emerge from depths of poverty. “During ‘chena’ cultivation time the children stay back at home to help their parents and don’t attend school – school attendance drops to 20%. Otherwise those families can’t survive,” said the principal.

Yet fate was on their side for these innocent children. Recognising the enduring efforts of the children and the staff of the Thalawegama Kanishta Vidyalaya a wonderful group of youth from Colombo restructuring their priorities comes forward to help.

It was the Ananda College Prefects’ Guild that keeps an eye on communities of every social strata to select a school and extend their help to the maximum.

Recently these bunch of boys from Ananda College chose to go to Thalawegama School and give a helping hand to those children whose expectations are not less than theirs.

“We were on the lookout for an underprivileged school as we always do for our ‘School Rehabilitation Program’. And it was our Principal L.M.D. Dharmasena who suggested us to help Thalawegama school,” said Harinda Senaratne, Head Prefect of Ananda College.

They wanted to organise something special for their 125th Anniversary of the school which falls in this year.

According to Harinda, Ananda College Colombo, Prefects Guild annually organises a ‘School Rehabilitation Program’ to help less facilitated schools in rural areas. “Earlier we assisted several schools in Puttalam and Kilinochchi. And this time as proposed by our principal we organised to assist Thalawegama school,” Harinda said.

“One of our prefects found that one O/L student’s science book had only four pages filled – this was during the first visit of the guild in September this year.

They didn’t have a science teacher. It made us realise that the comfort we enjoy back home. It is sad that some don’t value the freedom of education we have in our schools and families,” said Harinda. Visiting the school in September the Ananda College Senior Prefects were able to prioritise needs with a discussion with Thalawegama School Principal Thilak Ratnayake. The main problem was water scarcity.

Ananda College then donated a water pump to be used with the tube well in the school premises. They undertook to build the year five classroom which was just a mud hut and today it is under construction.

Donations worth Rs. One million was to be used for the school. “Ananda College students with the help of parents and well-wishers donated material needed for the project. Some gave money. Anandians organised various ways to contribute to the project,” Harinda said. Within three weeks Anandians were able to collect all the necessary equipment and goods.

This included construction material, paint to colourwash the school, sports equipment, school stationery for each student etc.

K.N.S. Somawathi (38), a mother of a student from Thalawegama said the donation was a great relief to them. “The school has only eight teachers and all of them teach our children not as a job but a great service. They hold extra classes after school for weak children” she said. If children need to attend tuition classes they have to travel nearly 15 km to Padiyathalawa and the road has no bus service. “Our only hope is for our children to have a better life than us and education is the only way out,” Somawathi said.

To study for the Advance Level, students have to go to schools in Thissapura or Orubendiwewa. As the two head prefects of the Thalawegama School, Susantha Gunaratne and Nimali Anuruddhika, explained they managed to build a playground for the school with the help of villagers and parents but had no sports equipment. At least after two years with these donations now we have new books and don’t have to worry our parents,” they said. They value it since it is from a group of students just like them living in another part of the country.

The Prefects’ Guild of the Ananda College organises events under the guidance of the Principal and Teacher-in-charge venerable Athapattukande Ananda Thera, to train Anandians to take up challenges in society.