(This news item from Daily Mirror today looks as it has little to do with education policy. However, it is a good illustration of the difficulties children in some parts of the country had to face in pursuing their studies. Even in this twenty first century we have students who daily walk 5-10 km to reach schools, sometimes risking their own lives as this unfortunate girl had to. Please note this happens in a country that boasts having a school for every 6 square km)
The body of a female student sitting for the Advance Level examination at Passara Maha Vidyalaya who went missing since Monday morning, was found yesterday by her mother.
The victim Rajapakse Mudiyanselage Kanchana Manohari, a Prefect of the Maha Vidyalaya had left home to answer her final A/L exam paper on Monday morning but had not returned.
Her body was discovered by her mother S.M. Sumanawathie the following morning, dumped in a shrub jungle along the Maduwatta Road in Hopton Estate.
According to Lunugala Police the victim is believed to have been raped at this stretch of the lonely road of around five miles and later killed. The body was found in a pool of blood.
Source: http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/08/22/front/02.asp
2 Comments
Kadalay
The most effective punishment for convicted rapists should be castration…
Alugosuwa
Well…obviously that would make matters much easier Kadalay…but I think there’s something here that goes beyond such easy solutions…and no i’m not talking about actually going through with the death penalty tho the name may suggest it…there needs to be deeper more meaningful social reforms taken. Wish the blooming education ministers who talk so big would do something a bit more about issues like this…about having more schools and making education accessible to all…this is not the only girl who has to walk so many kms to school…sadly poor, intelligent Kanchanahas had to pay for the sins of omission of our education system and our educational sector.
Press Release #11: Schools should reopen at the first opportunity, but with reduced examination pressures- 22 September 2021 (In English/Sinhala/Tamil)
The urgency of getting children back to school at the first opportunity is accepted worldwide, but Covid-19 has also brought three other issues to the fore internationally – (1) Ethics of conducting competitive examinations when significant portions of the students have been left out of education (2) Wisdom of continuing same old education when a full return to normalcy is not in sight (3) The need for combining face-2-face and distance mode of teaching and learning as the new normal. Meanwhile here in Sri Lanka, our Ministry of Education goes about as if it is business as usual.
Press release#10:The urgent need to prepare for the opening of schools -04 September 2021(In English)
September 04, 2021 HE the President, Gotabhaya Rajapakse Hon Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse, MP Hon Minister of Education, Mr. Dinesh Gunewardene, MP Hon Leader of the Opposition, Sajith Premadasa, MP The urgent need to prepare for the opening of schools This is in reference to the previous letter we wrote in July 2021 signed by several academics, educationists, and health sector personnel.
Education News Sri Lanka : Week 35
Pfizer vaccine to schoolchildren after health authority approves Source: Dailynews The Pfizer vaccine will be given to the schoolchildren of the relevant age groups as soon as the medical approval is received, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said. He made this observation at the meeting of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control held through online technology under the chair of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa this morning (3).
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