Funday Times

Six and a half months is almost finished in the year 2006, which means that half of the school syllabi is finished by now. The only and main educational source of school syllabi for school children is the school text book, which is published and distributed by the government freely among the students.

These text books contain facts and data which are written simply and understandably, for self use of students, due to the present child-centred education. But have you ever dreamed what would happen if you didn't get the text books? Then it's time to think because many of your own brothers and sisters suffer without text books.

There is a huge insufficiency of text books on subjects such as Science, Maths, Social Studies and Health. Not only in remote area, even in the city of Colombo, children face this problem. Children educating in English (comparatively high) are the ones who face this tragedy mostly. Most of them are willing to buy books even. But the Educational Publications Department says that they don't have enough text books, which makes matters worse.

Given below is an interview conducted with a student without text books for the subjects Science, Maths and Health.

FTKR: Do you have any alternatives?
S : Till March this year, we just waited till they gave books. But then we understood it's better to start photocopying text books. And now ¾ of our students have made it practical.

Photocopying the text books is an alternative. True! But what about the students who can't afford to photocopy a book with an average of 300 pages? I talked to a Science teacher in a rural area about this.

FTKR : How are the students handling the situation without enough text books?
ST : Eighty percent of the children here are extremely poor. They neither can buy nor photocopy the text books. They are helpless. Grade 10 and 11 students have only 27 Science books. They share their books, but it affects their education; especially children who are facing the O/Ls.

The field of education has become one of the most competitive fields in Sri Lanka. So a shortage of books is unfair to some people.

The most regretful part is that some schools have extra text books, stored, covered with dust, while some students are moaning without text books. And now it's time to open the doors of these places, and wipe the dust off, to give them to the waiting students, who are holding their hands out to welcome the text books.