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Big words by donors but little meaning to schoolchildren
By N.Dilshath Banu
The writing on the blackboard for many schoolchildren in tsunami-affected areas appears to be bleak even one year after the disaster, with many donors back-tracking on their pledges to rebuild and upgrade facilities in schools, The Sunday Times learns.An Education Ministry official said the government was facing problems with about 80 schools out of 182 affected by the December 26 tsunami, as donors have failed to fulfil their pledges.

“Many donors have signed MoUs with the government to rebuild schools with facilities, including computer labs, science labs and libraries. However, they now say that they will only rebuild classrooms but will not include additional facilities as the cost of building materials, labour etc. have gone,” Upul Ranasinghe, Programme Manager of Tsunami Education Reconstruction Monitor, a unit in the Ministry of Education says.

Ampara District recorded the highest number of schools damaged-40, with Batticaloa recording 37 and Galle 27. However the highest number of students displaced was 16, 692 from Galle. Amapara recorded 14,000 and Batticaloa 13,310 .

The total cost estimated for reconstruction work was US dollars 100 million but only US dollars 15 million has been used so far, The Sunday Times learns.
Commenting on problems that some of the schools faced because of the changing policies on the buffer zone restrictions, Mr. Ranasinghe said even before the buffer zone rule was relaxed there were plans to relocate 75 schools and discussions were held with the Coast Conservation Department to approve construction of some of the schools. However the plans were changed because of the unavailability of land.

He also said Ministry officials felt that some schools that were situated close to the sea but were not severely damaged by the tsunami should however be relocated elsewhere. Donors who had initially agreed to relocate Matara’s St.Mary’s Convent and Ampara’s St. John’s had backed out saying it was not necessary to rebuild these schools as they hadn’t been damaged as much as the others.

Citing the example of another school in Ampara he said the Uppuaru-Al-Hidaya Vidyala, which was first battered by the war and then relocated only to be battered by the tsunami was again to be relocated with the assistance of a donor, Friends of Sri Lanka Trust which signed an MoU with the Education Ministry. However, Mr. Ranasinghe said each time the Education Ministry tried to contact them on the telephone,they were unable to connect as the numbers were incorrect.

In some instances when the donors were ready with the finances residents objected to the relocation of schools because of the proposed sites being too far, Mr. Ranasinghe said. One such school was the Devapathiraja Maha Vidyalaya in Galle which was badly damaged displacing about 1700 students.
In contrast Mulharushums Vidyalaya in Kalmunai, which was also totally destroyed displacing more then 1400 students has no donor at all. Temporary classes are still being conducted in a playground closeby, Mr. Ranasinghe said.
He also said since donors who had signed MoUs were not sticking by their pledges the Ministry was holding discussions with other donors to start rebuilding these schools.

More going to school-UNICEF
Giving a more positive picture was UNICEF communication officer, Leanne Mitchell who said according to their reports about 95% of tsunami-affected children were back at school-which in some areas was higher than even the pre-tsunami attendance.

She said the UNICEF has supported the construction of 114 temporary schools while assisting to repair 26 schools. The UNICEF’s temporary schools have a better learning environment than the ones that existed before the tsunami she said.

“These structures can last up to 10-15 years and once they are no longer needed, the structures will be handed over to the communities to be used for community centres or other purposes,” said Ms.Mitchell

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