Conflict deprives children's education -official

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 December 2001, 20:30 GMT]
Most of the children under the age of ten living in welfare centres, slum areas and remote villages in the North-East province, have been deprived of their pre-school and primary education due to the ongoing war, said Mr.Sokkalingam Amirthalingam, Provincial Secretary to the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Social Welfare and Women Affairs, addressing a three-day workshop on the Early Childhood Development Project.

The workshop for the teachers deployed to teach children in the North-East, between the age three and five in nursery schools, concluded Saturday at the auditorium of provincial department of the local government in Trincomalee. The Provincial Ministry of Women Affairs organized the workshop.

"Pre-school education lays a firm foundation for the betterment of the younger generation in the sphere of education. Due to the present war, thousands of children live in refugee camps, welfare centres and in

shanties, losing the opportunity for obtaining pre-school and primary education," said Mr.Amirthalingam, participating as the chief guest of the event.

Pre-school teachers who attended the workshop were briefed of the urgent necessity of providing better attention to children under ten who have been displaced or separated from their parents or who have lost their parents in the ongoing war and living in refugee camps, welfare centres and other institutions.