News
Students answer school bell as alarm bells fade
Security checks in schools. Pic by Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe
Persuaded by repeated assurances by the government and the armed forces that schools are safe from terror attacks, students have been filling up classes at the 10,062 schools across the country.
Nevertheless, many schools are still asking parents to stand guard at the gates to protect their children.
After a miserable start to the second term when many parents were too frightened to risk their children’s lives, attendance was up to 70 per cent on Monday and, with numbers gaining momentum daily, nearly full attendance was reported by Friday.
In some places, parents are guarding schools round the clock, taking turns to sit at the gates.
This is causing great difficulties for some – particularly those who are dependent on daily wages to feed their families.
Parents in the plantation and the rural sectors, most of them daily wage earners, say they have to forgo wages for each day they are asked to guard schools, and are suffering severe financial hardship. One parent said she lives from day to day and is battling to keep the home fires burning.
Some schools in the Nuwara Eliya Education Zone have gone to the extent of collecting money from students to pay salaries to parents guarding the schools.
People’s Movement to Protect Schools (PMPS) Secretary, Nagestenne Aruna Thera said calling on parents to provide security to their children’s schools was unreasonable as most of them were working parents. The government had a responsibility to provide more security personnel. “Just one police officer for a school is not enough,” the Thera said.
Also teachers who are themselves parents are in a dilemma, having to balance their teaching duties with the requirement to stand guard at their children’s schools. “They have requested leave from their schools to perform this duty,” the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) said.
Some working parents complain they have been using up their leave to provide guard duty.
International schools, which remained closed when other schools opened a fortnight ago, also opened their doors on Monday (20). International Schools Sri Lanka General Secretary Malathi Jayasekera said Muslim schools remain closed because of Ramadan fasting this month.
Parents of children in international schools have also been asked to participate in security operations. “We are utilising parents’ support to safeguard the schools,” Ms Jayasekera said.
Parents have been requested to volunteer on a roster basis. Some have agreed to provide their services daily. “This will continue until end of the second academic term,” Ms Jayasekera said.
Education Ministry Additional Secretary, School Activities, R M M Ratnayake said the responsibility of covering academic syllabuses lies with the school authorities, who will have to find time to teach children before or after school hours. “They will not be given extra days to cover up for lost time,” he said.
Catholic schools in the Western Province have reopened in stages, with primary schools in Colombo the last to begin; their scheduled start is tomorrow. State security forces will be on guard at Catholic schools, along with parents.
Students walking into school are having their bags checked, with some parents and teachers carrying out searches so exhaustively that children said they felt they were being treated like terrorists. In some schools, normal backpacks were thrown in a heap and children told to carry their books, lunch and drink bottles in their hands. They have been requested to buy clear/transparent bags.
The requirement is taxing parents financially as they have already spent on backpacks bought at the beginning of the year.
The Education Ministry has been forced to step in and prevent schools from collecting funds from students to instal CCTV cameras on the premises. There were reports of some school development societies and old boys’ and old girls’ associations actively collecting money from children for this purpose.
Following protests from education unions, the Education Ministry intervened and said it would provide the CCTV cameras and other security equipment. Some schools had by then bought their own equipment.
| Education Ministry educates schools on hijab and abaya The Ministry of Education (MoE) last week issued a communiqué to all schools, explaining the gazette notification that bans garments that cover the face. The communiqué follows a misconception of the ban by school authorities and parents, barring Muslim teachers with the head covered, entering school. It is learned that 7 Muslim teachers of St Anthony’s College, Katugastota, were debarred from entering the schools, because they had covered their heads. The teachers who were dressed in the abaya (long flowing gown) and the hijab (head scarf) were told to dress in saree, if they wanted to continue serving in the schools. Section 5 of the Public Security Ordinance (Chapter 40) states, “No person shall wear in any public place any garment, clothing or such other material concealing the full face, which will in any manner cause any hindrance to the identification of a person. (“Full face” means the whole face of a person including the ears). The teachers who insist they are well within the Law and will continue to wear their cultural dress, have taken their case before the Zonal Education Office, the Provincial Education Office and the Provincial Governor Niluka Ekanayke, to no avail.They have also lodged a complaint with the Katugastota police. Although the authorities have requested that the teachers be allowed to sign in and serve in the schools, the parents on guard in schools are refusing to let them in. The case was taken up by the Human Rights Commission last week and a letter sent to the MoE, which, in turn, has sent copies of the HRC letter and the gazette notification to all schools. Meanwhile, in the Western Province, 12 teachers serving in government schools were transferred to different schools, as they faced harassment from parents who objected to them wearing the head cover. Also, several other teachers across the country are seeking transfers over this issue. | |