Resurrecting Jaffna’s only bilingual School destroyed by the ‘war’
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The nearly 3-decades civil war in Sri Lanka damaged or destroyed many buildings of importance, of which, the Jaffna Sinhala Madya Maha Vidyalaya (J/SMMV) was one of them, in May 1985. Today, the property is occupied by the Army.
While the students of this school excelled in academic activities, sports, drama and writing, they were most recognised for their diversity, as they were Tamil, Sinhalese, Moor, Bohra, Burgher and Malay.
Students could study in Tamil or Sinhala, making this school the only one in Jaffna providing Sinhala and Tamil language education. Even now, there is no school in Jaffna that offers Sinhala medium education.
As the present government has emphasised on reconciliation and co-existence between communities, past students of this school have come together to form the J/SMMV Past Students Association (PSA), facilitated by Mr N.R.C. Goonawardhana, a former pupil and principal of the school from 1964-1982.
The primary vision of the J/SMMV PSA is to, one day, re-open their school and provide trilingual education for children in Jaffna. Their vision, has partially borne fruit, as, on November 1, they will open a preschool named J/SMMV Preschool that will provide basic education in all 3 Languages.
Co-founder and current president of the J/SMMV PSA, Rohan Daniel, said, initially, the preschool will function as a playschool in its first two months and the children not taught any lessons. Instead, they will learn their basics by playing with toys. From January 2020 onwards, the preschool activities will begin.
“We want to prepare more than 25 students to launch Grade 1 of the J/SMMV in 2021. As of now, we have registered 13 children for the playschool,” said Mr Daniel.
“One-year scholarships of Rs 2,000 a month, will be provided to the first 15 children that register with us. These scholarships will be sponsored by past students, who live here and abroad, and a few pharmaceutical companies as well.”
The PSA also organised a house-to-house campaign in the town of Nawatkuli, Jaffna.
“Most of the families in this area are in financial difficulties, with no regular income, as they are still recovering from the war. Some of them were also displaced from their original homes,” said Mr Daniel.
“Many of the people we spoke to were very happy, when we said we’re offering scholarships for the first 15 students, and that, the preschool is going to be a trilingual, teaching in Sinhala, Tamil and English. They feel their children will succeed in life, if they learn Sinhala and English, from a young age,” he added.
“Anyone interested in sponsoring a child’s education at our Preschool, can contact us, as there are many children in Jaffna who are orphaned and handicapped as well, hence, a good education would be extremely helpful to them,” Mr Daniel added.
Mr Daniel also said that the Army is cooperating with the PSA and has agreed to release a part of the property to rebuild the school.
“The last discussion we had with the Army Commander of the Northern Province was favourable. He said the minor staff of their camp will be interested in registering their children at our Preschool, with the Army providing security for the preschool,” he said.
The PSA has not received any support from the current government to begin the Pre-school, as Pre-school or Montessori education is not recognised in the Education sector of Sri Lanka. The PSA is hopeful that the new government will facilitate the rebuilding of the J/SMMV.
The J/SMMV Preschool will be held in the Sarvodaya premises at 568, Nedumkulam Junction, Ariyalai, Jaffna.