Learning life’s lessons as they teach little ones at LRH
It is not school though where teachers meet their students, but the unusual setting of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) for Children in Colombo.
Smartly-clad in colourful sarees, we meet five young, energetic and empathetic teachers as they conclude their stint at the LRH and handover their duties to a new batch.
Classroom in the ward: Buddhini Vithanage with two of her young students. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
This unique joint programme of the Education and Health Ministries, implemented since 2013, ensures that children who need to be at LRH for long-term care do not miss out on their studies and are not left behind.
Dr. Shanika Vitharana
Explaining that LRH caters to the age-group 0-14 years, more recently extended to 16 years, the Medical Officer of the Health Education Unit, Dr. Athula Wijesundera says that as it is a premier tertiary care centre, it gets many cases of very ill children from all over the country. Some have to be at the LRH for a long time – those needing bone marrow transplantation, orthopaedic surgery or cardiac surgery and others with chronic respiratory infections, cerebral palsy or bouts of mental illness.
“These children, accompanied by their mothers, come from far off places with basic stuff. A few pieces of clothing and not a single book,” he says.
The teachers who interact with the hospitalised children have been at the top of their class, passing out as the first five from the Teacher Training College. They are attached to Nalanda College and sent to LRH on secondment, under the purview of the Education Ministry’s Deputy Director Achini Balapatabendige and guided by LRH Director Dr. Pradeep Wijesinghe when within the hospital.
Dr. Wijesundera says that there are no designated classrooms and the five teachers fan out to wards and carry out their duties without disturbing ward rounds or treatment plans.
Dr. Athula Wijesundera
The experiences of these primary-grade teachers of Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) whose last two years have been spent working within LRH have been both fulfilling and heartrending.
For Buddhini Vithanage from Kiribathgoda who will next take up duties at Visakha Vidyalaya, the realities of life dawned when she took under her tutelage a 13-year-old girl from Nittambuwa. When she had been born prematurely, her mother had abandoned her and her father had gone abroad to find money to help his mother look after his daughter. So the teenager was under the care of her Achchi and in hospital for over three months with kidney issues.
“She had been in Grade 8 but was very weak in mathematics, unable even to do basic additions,” says Buddhini, detailing how she taught her and was planning to go on to subtractions the next day, only to find that “baba nethi wela” (the girl had died).
It is with poignancy that Yawaji Gunathilaka from Wadduwa too, as she heads for her teaching appointment at Royal College, says how a Grade 11 boy from Kandy, who was listed for a heart operation and had postponed sitting for the Ordinary Level (OL), came under her guidance. A specific lesson on sandhi (combining two words), he wanted her to teach. She also taught him how to structure an essay. He would never sit the OL as he was ill and passed away.
Seeing children with cerebral palsy who strove daily to sit or stand, Madara Wijesiri from Horana who will take up her posting to Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya, felt the futility of the rat race gripping those outside the hospital. It was in the ward treating children with mental illness that she met a 13-year-old who would not look anyone in the face, with the nurses cautioning her against mentioning school or bringing books.
Little by little, she won his trust and confidence, learning that he had been the victim of bullying and had avoided school for two long years. She tenderly got him involved in painting, while the nurses coaxed him into wearing a school uniform, gradually giving him a good mindset about school.
For Kaushalya Wickramasinghe from Kandana who goes to Ananda College, it was a podi duwak (a small daughter) from Anuradhapura who pulled at her heart-strings. She had gone up to Grade 6 but whenever Kaushalya walked into the ward, she had to reassure both mother and daughter not to be fearful about the latter’s health and then only get down to lessons.
It was a girl who had been in Grade 7 from Badulla who had a sight impairment that came under Vishva Sadasahani from Ganemulla who will be teaching at Royal College.
The girl had been in a regular school but later been moved to a special school where the change made her unhappy, after which she had dropped out for three years.
Innovative Vishva had taken up the challenge of teaching math by writing the numbers in sums very large and drawing sketches for other lessons – happy that she had done the right thing, when the girl called to say that she was back at regular school now.
A discussion about their work at the LRH (from the right): Buddhini Vithanage, Kaushalya Wickramasinghe, Vishva Sadasahani, Yawaji Gunathilaka and Madara Wijesiri
There had also been a harrowing experience of dealing with a mother striving very hard to look after her sick son, while also educating him and protecting him and her other son from her abusive husband. While the boy has gone back home and is now in Grade 6, attending the big school in the village, the abusive father is being rehabilitated.
The value of this programme is enunciated by Consultant Haematologist Dr. Shanika Vitharana who on seeing teachers in other wards had requested that they also be channelled to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit where children have to stay in isolation for 4-6 weeks.
“These children are restricted to their rooms with their mothers and nurses and doctors only go in to give them their medications and examine them. Relatives see them from the other side of a glass, with communication being by phone,” she says, stressing that these children and their carers have no contact with the outside world. Their only source of activity would be the phone or TV.
When the teachers walked in, after washing their hands and donning gowns, masks, gloves and more to keep infection out, it was a boon to these children.
Describing how a three-year-old would be washed and ready for the teacher bright and early, Dr. Vitharana says the programme is “really helpful”.
It goes without saying that this unique LRH model should be replicated in other hospitals where children have long stays.
Searching for an ideal partner? Find your soul mate on Hitad.lk, Sri Lanka's favourite marriage proposals page. With Hitad.lk matrimonial advertisements you have access to thousands of ads from potential suitors who are looking for someone just like you.