The Special Report

By Faraza Farook, Nilika de Silva, Laila Nasry and Tania Fernando

• The bells toll for small schools 
• No money, no school 
• The students must come first 
• Points to ponder 
• No students, schools closed, says Pathirana 

The bells toll for small schools

Poverty is the most common factor behind school dropouts. In some areas, small schools have gradually closed down due to poor attendance. While some students are able to get transfers to bigger and better schools, most are left in the lurch.

A survey carried out by the Census and Statistics Department in 1999 on Child Activity shows that 85,906 children are engaged in economic activity to supplement household income. A further 18589 children are employed in housekeeping activity with 53,330 having dropped out of school due to financial and other difficulties. 

Although it is compulsory that children between the ages of 5-14 should attend school, an estimated 431,668 (10 percent of a total of 4,344,771) children in the age group of 5-17 years do not attend school or any other educational institution, the survey showed.

In this backdrop the government's decision to close down certain small schools under a 'reclassification programme' has compelled some children to find schools far away from their homes or drop out from schools. Already 172 schools have been closed down under this porgramme.

A survey conducted by The Sunday Times in the Southern Province showed a number of small schools had been ear-marked for closure, with others being closed down earlier. But in an ironic twist new schools have come up instead of those in existence being developed. 

Residents complain that this may be one reason why small schools have been closed down. They also say small schools are being ignored while big schools swallow up all the funds.

A Principal from Galle who did not want to be quoted said, "the World Bank has suggested that these schools be closed for the mere fact that there are few gains in developing such small schools".

The Kitulampitiya Kanishta Vidyalaya is one such example. "These children cannot even afford to buy a book. I have provided them with drawing books for their art lessons," the Art teacher said. Many teachers in this school help students out of their own pocket. 

"These children refuse to go to big schools because they cannot keep up to the expected social standards. Most of them cannot even afford to buy a pair of shoes," the teacher said.

The school is heading for a gradual closure with a class being closed down each year. 

The ad hoc closure of small schools by educational authorities without making alternative arrangements have forced students to make their own choices. While some have gone to other small schools that fit their social background, others have dropped out. But since most of the small schools are facing imminent closure their educational future is on shaky grounds.

Meanwhile more and more parents ignore the distance constraints and opt to send their children to schools with improved facilities.

Sunethra Egodage, from Maitipe, who earns a living making flower pots sends her daughter to Sangamitta Balika Vidyalaya in Galle, three miles from their home. Owing to the area rule, they didn't qualify to admit the child to the recently established Labuduwa Siri Dhamma Vidyalaya. 

Even to gain admission to a particular school the parents resort to 'crooked' methods such as fixing the birth certificates etc. "You want to give the best education to your child, so we have to go to certain extremes," says Sunethra.

The area rule which states that a child must attend a school within a two km radius of one's home, works as another barrier to gain access to a school of their choice.

The very fact that a child has to travel a long distance to gain an education could act as a disqualifying factor. An estimated 4335 students islandwide do not attend school because of the distance factor.

Maitipe Methodist Primary School Principal Mrs. Epitawela Arachchi says less than 100 students study there. This is another school which faces closure. "Most people prefer the town schools because the small,schools are not developed and invariably the funds are channelled towards the bigger schools" Mrs. Arachchi said.

Meanwhile in a classic case of disloyalty to one's own alma mater, Minister Richard Pathirana, instead of developing his school Vidyaraja Maha Vidyalaya in Ambalanwatte, has opened a new school - Labuduwa Siri Dhamma Vidyalaya in the area.

The Vidyaraja, now in a dilapidated state houses a Samurdhi office and is a home to stray dogs. The people in the area have to travel an added 3/4 mile to attend the new school in Labaduwa. 

D. Dahanayake, a past student of Vidyaraja said the school closed down because of poor attendance.

Angry people of the area said, "Adyapana Amathithuma ayanna aayanna igenagaththa iskoalai diyunu karannethuwa aluth ekak arela (the education minister has opened a new school without developing his own school)

Meanwhile, Provincial Director of Education of the Southern Province, Stanley Premasiri said that if parents don't send their children to school, the schools would automatically closed.

"One of the best ways of overcoming poverty is to give an education," a former secretary of a the Education Ministry Premadasa Udugama said. He further explained that when a person is given an education, his family life, his outlook improves and he in turn will see that his children too get some sort of education. 

Mr. Udugama further added that there was no fair distribution of resources thus it does not filter down to the rural schools. "The education system must be decentralized to suit the different areas. Citing an example he said school holidays should be changed according to maybe the harvest time etc, to ensure their attendance in school. 

Self-learning methods could remedy the situation. If the government can provide facilities for distant education and material for self-studying it would benefit those dropping out of schools. 

No money, no school

Economic hardships, and parents' indisciplined behaviour have grown to be the biggest problem the children face. 

In the slum and shanty dwellings where drug and alchohol abuse are ram pant, children have been forced to take on the role of parents forcing them to forget about school.

Fourteen-year-old Lakshan Pradeep Kumara of Borella has not attended school for more than three years. His family is undergoing financial difficulties, and Lakshan who attended Bandaranaike Vidyalaya was forced to stop his schooling.

His sister aged 15 is also at home, while only the youngest in the family, aged 12 is able to continue her studies. Their father sells vegetables in Pettah, but his income cannot do wonders.

Lakshan lives in the 160 watte, and he has a group of five friends from an adjoining neighbourhood, whom he hangs out with. They too do not attend school. "We play cricket," the youngster says when asked how he spends the day. 

"I go and play somewhere," says Siridaran (13) echoing Lakshan. We met Sridaran as he came home after going to the market to buy food for the house. Siridaran has been a dropout for one year now. He used to go and pick up balls at the Golf Links, on Model Farm Road, and earned about Rs. 100 a day, but now he does not go. 

This is the plight of many children in the city and suburbs who are caught in the mesh of an uncaring society, that allows a luxury lifestyle to run parallel with the livelihood of beggars. 

The students must come first

"We do not agree with the closure of small schools," Advisor to the Sri Lanka Nidahas Guru Sangamaya, M. S. Perera said. "There was an instance when in the Colombo district the student population in a school reduced to eight, but still it was managed and developed, and the numbers rose to hundreds."

If a school in Colombo that had only eight students could have been developed why are 172 schools in rural areas being shut down is the question that comes to mind.

"Those days the practice was to always draw out the weaker students, give them the most attention and try and develop their skills and confidence, so that they too would be able to face the challenges in life," Mr. Perera said. 

But now the trend is different. Priority is given to A grade students at the cost of leaving behind those who are average and below average, he explained. All the top schools are on the look out for the "crème de la crème", the eight D students. Infact all the so called 'good' schools are competing for these students while the weaker students are totally forgotten. 

"Closing a school is a grave issue," Premasara Samaratunga, the Chairman of the Jathika Adyapana Sevaka Sangamaya said, adding, "There was a saying that closing a school is infact opening a prison." 

"A school is a resource for the whole community. It is the centre of activity in a village. Therefore when one closes down a school, one simultaneously shuts down this hub of bustling village life." Mr. Samaratunga said. 

"A school in Dambara, Millawa, which was about hundred years old, was closed down, and the premises given for a factory," Mr. Samaratunga said, citing a stark example of the irrationality of administrators. 

Points to ponder

* The schools which are ear-marked for closure must be closed down gradually with students being transferred to other schools in a planned systematic way.

* If schools that cannot be developed are closed down, funds allocated to these schools should be chanelled to improve the facilities in schools where the students have been transferred to.

* Instead of closing schools, the cluster schools programme which was successful should be reintroduced. The facilities of a big schools can then be made available to smaller schools. 

* Make use of unused school rooms for productive purposes such as vocational training centres. 

No students, schools closed, says Pathirana

He also said some 3700 teacher vacancies existed in government service and the ministry was finding it difficult to fill these vacancies.

Mr. Pathirana in an interview with The Sunday Times strongly defended the decision to close down schools but said provincial councils had been directed to take steps to ensure that children were transferred to other schools.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: At a time when the Government is trying to enforce compulsory schooling for children why are 172 schools being temporarily closed ?

A: It is the prerogative of Provincial Council to decide on the closure of schools. We have said in a Ministry circular not to close any school if it will cause hardship to students or disrupt their education. 

Q: Aren't you passing the buck on the Provincial Councils. Should not you take the responsibility?

A: We get to know only after some of the schools were closed down. Everybody thinks we are closing the schools. But the Ministry circular said the power to take decisions regarding closure of schools would be with the Provincial Council. 

Q: The Government was contemplating new laws to make education compulsory. What happened to the plans? 

A: There is a regulation that children between 5 to 17 years should attend school.

Q: But steps you are taking are contradictory to the government policy?

A: No it is not. We have told the provincial councils to ensure that steps should be taken to accommodate children in nearby schools if schools are closed down due to lack of teachers. 

Q: We hear that the school you attended has also been closed down? 

A: Yes. The school was also closed down because there were only 12 students there. It was the school I attended when I was small. 

Q: You said schools were temporarily being closed down. But some of the schools in the north-east still remain closed.

A: The schools that have closed in the North and East will be reopened. We did not close these schools. It happened naturally as no children attended these schools. For example I went to Ireland. I visited a school in a small rural area with 160 children, there are 8 classes. 160 children and only four teachers. But in Sri Lanka if you have eight classes you will need, 8 teachers and a principal, nine. But in Ireland it's just four including the principal. 

Q: Is this temporary closure of schools not unfair by the children?

A: Children are withdrawn from schools when the schools are not good. In Galle I opened a school called Labuduwa Siridhamma Vidyalaya, in January 1995. There are about 2000 children in that school. Now it's difficult for a child to gain admission to that school. That is the school with the biggest demand. Parents began to withdraw children from other schools and send them to this school. As a result the nearby Vidyaraja school was closed. No parent wants to send the child to a school without facilities. 

Schools are also being closed down because they are not being conducted properly by the principals.

Some 172 schools were temporarily closed because there were not enough students there. Some 165 more schools have become dysfunctional in the North and East. 

Q : Statistics also show the number of admissions sought annually is also dropping. Are there any reasons apart from what you have already said?

A: There are certain schools where only two children have been admitted to year one. These schools will be definitely closed down in a few days. No one can stop that. 

This is because the number of births in these areas have gone down. Admission figures to year one have gone down. Those days it used to be about 380,000 . Now it has dropped to about 320,000. 

Q: We are told that one reason that the teaching profession becoming unpopular is that teachers are transferred frequently. Any comments?

A: There is no government service where there are no transfers. 

Q - When the unemployment rate is so high, how is it that 3700 vacancies for teachers exist?

A: No school is closed because of a dearth of teachers. Vacancies exist for teachers who could teach technical subjects such as motor mechanism. T

Q: Haven't parents complained about the closure of schools:

A: No. However, when I received a few letters from the South regarding the impending closure of a school in Boosa I stopped the closure. Our policy is to ensure that there is a school within every two kilometre radius.

Q: While schools are being closed, we also see new schools being opened?

A: Our policy is to build at least one good school with all facilities in villages. This will discourage parents from sending children to city schools. 

If there are such schools in the village that can be made popular, they must be model schools. But it is a difficult task to create a model school. Because there must be a good principal, there must be good buildings and good teachers must be selected. Otherwise the parents will not have confidence in the school. 

Q: What are the other problems you face in implementing the government's education policy?

A: We have a problem of filling the teacher vacancies in remote areas. There is a surplus of teachers in some areas. We have given orders to Provincial councils which deal with teacher transfers to tackle the problem by transferring teachers from surplus areas to these remote areas. 

When we came to office in 1994 there were 11,000 teacher vacancies in the Tamil medium. We have already appointed about 9,000. Arrangements are being made to appoint another 2,500 teachers. 

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