A/L student killed on lonely road

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Posted on August 22, 2007 / 2 Comments

(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
August 22, 2007, 6:40 pm
- Reply
The most effective punishment for convicted rapists should be castration…
Alugosuwa
August 23, 2007, 2:01 pm
- Reply
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.