Remove security posts near schools - CTTU

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 March 2000, 17:26 GMT]
Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Association (CTTU) has appealed to the North East Governor Maj.Gen.Asoka Jayawardene (Ret.) to take steps to remove immediately all military camps and police posts now found in school premises or in their close vicinity in the north east province.

A delegation of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) led by its President S.Kumarakuruthasan met the Governor at his Colombo office yesterday and handed over a memorandum.

The delegation said that the presence of armed forces with sophisticated weapons near or inside schools cause severe psychological problems to students.

The North East Governor said that he accepts in principle that no security camps and police posts be located in school premises, and asked the delegation to submit a detailed report to him about schools where army and police camps are located in the province.

The CTTU delegation further brought to the notice of the Governor that they reliably learnt that school buildings in Punnalaikadduwan area in Jaffna peninsula were going to be destroyed by the armed forces for security reasons. The delegation wanted the Governor to take immediate steps to stop the destruction of the school buildings.