Under a new project, big city schools will take under their wing needy cousins in remote areas

Godfathers from a Colombo school

A group of students, former students, teachers and parents from a Colombo school travelled to a remote corner of the south last month in an effort to help two underprivileged schools.

Driving from Colombo on the 300-kilometre journey to the Habaragala and Nikawewa schools in the Hambantota district, the last lap was an unexpected experience for the group, on a bumpy tractor and on foot along a muddy village track. But the welcome ceremony arranged by the schoolchildren soon dispelled the weariness as city folk met village folk and interacted.

"It is part of a new programme where a Colombo school fosters a remote village school and helps it develop," said a spokesman for the Isipathana College Old Boys' Association (OBA).

Said Isipathana principal Upali Gunasekera, who was part of the 50-odd group: "For our students, it was a wonderful learning experience to see how difficult it is for needy schools in the country to operate."

"Isipathana will continue to assist these two schools to bring out the best from those students," he said at welcoming ceremonies at the Habaragala and Nikawewa schools. Isipathana also wants to give admission to some of the brightest students from these schools and is exploring the possibility of providing board and lodging for them.

Children and villagers from the two areas had literally rolled out the red carpet for the guests from Colombo, with a traditional "rice and manioc" meal and music. Both groups seated on mats, chatted and swapped jokes late into the night in the waning glow of Petromax lamps surrounded by jungle where the elephants roam.

The Colombo school, which has seen remarkable progress in recent years under Mr. Gunasekera's guidance, donated uniform material, educational and teaching material, books, instrument boxes, sports equipment, steel cupboards, typewriters and dry rations to the two schools which have both girls and boys.

Apart from this, Rs. 75,000 was given by the Country Music Foundation (CMF), a non-profit music charity that raises funds for children, to the Habaragala school - through the Isipathana OBA - to construct a badly-needed well. At present the schoolchildren go looking for water in this arid area to a villager's well.

Both schools - Habaragala with 285 students and Nikawewa with 134 - lack basic facilities. The children, whose parents are mostly rice and fruit farmers, too come from impoverished homes.

Habaragala has five teachers while Nikawewa has six. Sarath de Costa, an old boy of Isipathana has promised to help construct a dormitory for teachers at Habaragala to encourage more to take up appointments there.

There is no electricity, water is hard to come by and elephants forage in and around the nearby sugarcane plantations of Sevanagala and the Uda Walawe nature reserve.

The foster schools scheme has been initiated by Dr. (Mrs.) Tara de Mel, advisor to President Chandrika Kumaratunga on social infrastructrure. Isipathana College was picked as the first school under a scheme where top Colombo schools will play godfather and guide the destinies of remote, underprivileged schools.

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