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The will to succeed from behind bars spurs authorities
View(s):With one student from Watareka prison school’s maiden batch of GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) candidates having passed the examination, the school authorities are currently preparing to introduce the Advanced Level stream to the school.
According to its Principal, W.L.D.R.M. Wijetunga, of the 16 candidates who sat for last years O/L exam, one got through with good results, and, as the student has expressed his desire to follow subjects such as IT and Dancing, the school will facilitate the continuation of the student’s education. This particular inmate who enrolled in the school in August last year, obtained a ‘B’ for Dancing, three Credit passes in ICT, Sinhala and Buddhism, and two Simple passes in Maths and History at the O/L exam.
“We are happy to see our school making this kind of a progress, given that, we only had six months to prepare our maiden batch of O/L candidates, since initiating the school in March last year.
Extra classes were organised for the candidates to complete their syllabus. Students also had to perform under pressure, managing with the limited resources available, let alone a short timeframe,” Principal Wijetunga said.
“What is noteworthy is that these children have been outside a school environment for sometime, as is the case of the student who passed. So our primary objective was to get them back into mainstream society, by affording them the general knowledge and ability to read and write,” the principal said.
Speaking to the Education Times, the overjoyed student attributed his success to the support he received from the school and the prison authorities.
“I came to Suneetha Vidyalaya in August last year, and when the teachers here told me that I should sit for my O/Ls, I was reluctant, as I had very little time left to cover the syllabus. The teachers assisted me with extra classes, tutorials and past papers. Prison Dept staff were very helpful in arranging an environment conducive to studying,” the student informed, adding that it was only after coming to the school that he learned Dancing- in which he got a ‘B’ pass.
Suneetha Vidyalaya is a landmark project by the Prisons Dept and the Education Ministry, catering to young male inmates between the ages of 16-30 to engage in formal education. The school, run by the Prisons Dept, with facilities and assistance provided by the Education Ministry, shelters 64 young children from the Ambepussa training camp and prisons islandwide.
- Dhananjani Silva