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Tsunami children in no mood for studies
One year after the tsunami disaster, in spite of some progress though, children’s right to a quality education is still slow in its realization, according to the preliminary findings of a study by Save the Children in Sri Lanka.

According to the study 230 children from seven schools in the Galle, Hambantota, Ampara and Jaffna districts commented on their concerns in the first phase of an extensive Children’s Consultation on Education (CCE).

Save the Children in a statement said that considerable strides had been made in education delivery considering the enormity of the disaster but a lot remains to be done.

The study showed that permanent housing would be a critical factor in ensuring children’s education rights as the temporary shelters, where most children still live, do not give them the peace of mind for study.

As part of the study, the organisation spoke to many children about their educational needs. “They have been given a computer which is now filled with dust, but no toilet or water facilities. Our immediate priorities are sometimes forgotten”, a 14-year-old boy from Jaffna said.

He said they also did not have proper furniture. “We are sitting in chairs used by grade two and three students”, a secondary school student said. “Some of us have to stand in the classroom due to the lack of furniture and we also sit on the floor”, another 14-year-old student said.

The study revealed that temporary classrooms were an obstruction to quality education. It was found that in a school in Kalmunai, where a school building was entirely destroyed, the temporary units have no partitions between classrooms, so there’s a lot of disturbance and the heat from the zinc sheets affects the students, specially the girls.

The children said it was also very difficult to hear the teacher when it rains.
Children also spoke of increased threats of abuse and alcoholism in society that increased the threat to a quality education. Children in the North and East spoke of renewed fears of attending school due to the rising threat of military action in the area.

Emerging evidence from the consultation seems to suggest that a clear stock-taking should be done on material and human resource gaps in the tsunami education reconstruction process, and that the reconstruction process should be expedited to bring normality to children’s education and lives, the statement said.

The CCE in the tsunami affected areas initiated by Save the Children has the objective of bringing children’s experiences and concerns raised by the students to the notice of responsible authorities. Some 1500 children are expected to be respondents in this year-long process to be carried out in 2006 by the Save the Children by the Centre for Development Alternatives in Kandy.

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