News
Probation officers advise boy selling ‘dodol’ and tells grandmother to send him to school
View(s):By Prasad Rukmal in Ella
The heartwarming story of a Grade 7 student from Bandarawela who helped his grandmother by selling dodol has also exposed how poverty drives children toward labour at the cost of their education.
The boy, a student at Kahagolla Vidyalaya in Diyatalawa, and his sister, a Grade 5 student, live with their grandmother in Kahagolla. The two children were abandoned by their parents.
The boy's grandmother
Uva Province Probation and Child Protection Commissioner E. K. V. T. Edirisuriya
The grandmother makes and sells dodol, and their paternal uncle runs a tea shop near the house. The boy, on some days skipped school to take the dodol made by his grandmother to Bandarawela town. He would sell it there and give the money to his grandmother, who would give him Rs. 500 for his efforts.
Meanwhile, after it was revealed on social media that a child in Bandarawela was selling dodol, a group of probation officers including Uva Province Probation and Child Protection Commissioner E. K. V. T. Edirisuriya went to the Kahagolla area of Diyatalawa to find the child.
The children were at their uncle’s tea shop near the house.
Later, the officers, including Uva Province Probation and Child Protection Commissioner E K V T Edirisuriya, began questioning the two children and their grandmother.
The Commissioner said there are 620 such vulnerable children in the province who are being provided with educational services based on court orders.
She said children who have been abused by various people, tortured by their parents, abandoned by their parents and left unprotected are in children’s homes under court orders.
She stated that there are many vulnerable children in the Uva Province, and that the assistance of the Grama Niladhari and Child Rights Officers of the province is constantly needed to find these children. The objective is to provide a formal education to all these children.
The Commissioner and other officials advised the grandmother not to use the child for any business purposes in the future, and to send him to school every day and that they would povide them with necessary assistance so that the boy could continue with his studies. They also advised the young child not to engage in any commercial activities and to go back to school.
The probation officers advised the boy on the importance of going to school
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