Lack of furniture, buildings hamper Thenmaradchchi education

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2003, 17:08 GMT]
About sixty percent of students in Thenmaradchchi division schools study sitting on the ground due short supply of furniture and about forty percent of school children study in temporary sheds as they are not provided with building facilities, said a North East Provincial Education official.

Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the number of students attending Thenmaradchchi schools have increased by about six thousand.

Total number of students in Thenmaradchchi division now stands at about 16,800 and the average attendance of student has increased to about fifty percent, an education official said

Except schools in the high security zone comprising Thanankilappu, Maravanpolo, Ottuveli and Karampagam, other schools in Thenmaradchchi division have started functioning when the ceasefire agreement came into force, official said.

Meanwhile, majority students in remote villages in Thenmaradchchi division such as Mirusuvil north, Varani-Kudamiyan, Pokkati, Kachchai, Ketpali and Kaithady Erithidal are suffering malnutrition according to a survey, said Thenmaradchchi Zone Director of Education Mr.V. Selvarasa.

Mr. Selvarasa said that the Education Department has no intentions of closing down schools located in Thenmaradchchi high security zone permanently.

Five schools, Eluthumadduval Government Tamil Mixed School, Maravanpolo Sakalavalli Vidiyalayam, Thanankilappu Government Tamil School, Ottuveli American Mission School and Karampagam Government Tamil School are not functioning from September 1999 because they come under high security zone.

However, Eluthumadduval Government Tamil Mixed School is now functioning in the Mirusuvil Roman Catholic School. About five hundred students studying in the other four schools which are closed, have now got admission in schools located elsewhere in the peninsula, sources said.