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Rising number of child deaths exposes parental negligence
An unprotected construction pit at Mampe in Piliyandala became a watery grave for seven-year old Kavindu Kashmir and four-year-old Kavini Nivarthana when they were playing near a culvert close to their home while their mother was away.
The children drowned in the six-foot pit that had been dug by road constructors. Their mother, 36-year-old Lathika Roshanthi, had gone to her sister’s residence to hand over some documents when the tragedy happened around 6 pm.
When she returned within 15 minutes, the children were missing. Wailing over the loss of her only children, Roshanthi said: “My husband, who works as a labourer, was in hospital. On that fateful day, I visited him in hospital and then went to pick the children from classes before I went to my sister’s house. Not even 15 minutes passed, they were missing. After a failed search, I finally decided to get into the pit. To my horror, I felt a little leg. It was my daughter’s. My son was also stuck in the deep mud. I pulled him up too. But it was too late.”
Watery grave: The scene of the tragedy
Today, at Sri Sudharshana Model School in Piliyandala, Kavindu’s friends see only an empty chair while the handwork of Kavini has been removed from her classroom wall. The school’s primary section head, Srima Perera, said the children’s mother worked day and night to feed the children.
“Being married to an alcoholic husband, the mother had to cook and sell packets of lunch and sew clothes to provide for the children,” she said. The head teacher added that the incident was a lesson for every parent. “Both parents should keep an eye on their young children,” she said.
But this was not an isolated incident. Such tragedies which are a regular occurrence highlight not only negligence on the part of the parents but also the need to provide advice on proper parenting, child right activists say. Months ago, in two separate incidents, a ten-year-old child died after he fell into a well at Wanathavilluwa in the Puttlam district and an 18-month-old child died after falling into a pond at his home in Puttlam.
Last month, two two-year-old boys who were in the care of their grandmother died after they fell into a well in Haputale.
In another heart-rending incident, a one year-old child in Bogawanthalawa fell into a tub of water and drowned while the parents were away. The child was in the care of a neighbour.
In another shocking incident, two brothers died in July after they ate rat poison thinking that it was chocolate. The victims, six year-old Oshada Tiwankara and three-year-old Akila Anuhas from Kamburupitiya in Matara shared a bar of rat poison that was stored in a bottle kept at a reachable height. Soon they complained of extreme thirst and unbearable pain. The parents rushed them to hospital but they died on admission.
This month, in Warakapola an infant died of choking when he swallowed a lime. Menaca Calyaratne, Director ( International Child Safeguard) Save the Children, said that neglect of children was a form of child abuse as it caused harm to children at different levels.
“The worst situation is when parental negligence leads to death of a child. If something happens to your child, the ultimate loss is to you. In our programmes we urge parents to take their ‘protector” role very seriously because they are the closest people to their child,” she said.
Parental responsibility was something that both parents share and need to take seriously, Ms. Calyaratne said.
“But what is also unacceptable is that when parents are present in the house, the children are still neglected. Children seem to be in a world of their own. So are the parents. This we see as an emerging social issue,” she said.
National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) chairman Anoma Dissanayake said there had been a growing number of complaints on negligence to NCPA’s child helpline by children. “A number of awareness programmes are being conducted, but this seems to be a serious concern that should be addressed even with legislation. There are laws to prosecute children neglecting aged parents. But the vice versa should also be dealt with law. There is also a need for proper day-care system,” she said.
The NCPA chief said that economic problems and the 30-year war had led to parents having a self-centered mentality and the issue had got worse with increasing number of women seeking jobs abroad.
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