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Laudable move on affected schools

Besides the bare essentials of life, such as rice and a roof over one's head, it is education that counts most among a people's priorities.

It is, therefore, gladdening to note that the local educational authorities, headed by President Kumaratunga and Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Tara de Mel, have put in place the preliminaries to reconstruct some 176 schools damaged by the tidal waves of December 26.

Aiding them in this effort are fourteen local and five foreign sponsors, whose exemplary magnanimity is bound to be widely appreciated.

These sponsors were identified by us in our lead story yesterday and our hope is that many more private sector organisations and past students' associations of schools in particular, would readily follow their example.

Considering the far-reaching negative impact of keeping a country's educational system in a state of disruption, we believe it is a highly judicious move to fast-track the reconstruction of our damaged schools.

We also laud the intention of the educational authorities to make model schools out of these damaged ones in the reconstruction phase.

Besides the enormous physical destruction, the multiplying tents on our coastline pay mute testimony to the cataclysmic human and social costs the tsunami has engendered. This is hardly the appropriate environment for young students in particular to live and have their being.

The reconstruction of schools as quickly as possible - with improved educational facilities and resources - constitutes a gateway to educational advancement and relative worldly success.

By enabling these displaced students to resume their educational careers, the path is being cleared to their educational empowerment and skills development. For those who have lost almost everything, these are invaluable assets.

It is plain to see that it is the public school system which has suffered most in the recent destruction. It follows from this reality that it is the children of the poor who would be suffering the greatest educational setbacks, as a result.

More so why, urgent, resourceful action is needed to restore these schools to a fully functional state. Thus the principles of social justice too have an important bearing on the task of reconstruction.

For quite some time now, a considerable number of the poor in Sri Lanka have been starved of the best in eduction. It was the intention of the President to reverse these setbacks in the educational process of the poor.

One strand in the educational reforms process of the Government is the building and sustaining of better schools in the provinces. This is one way of ending educational inequalities which have bred a plethora ills and distortions in the public schools system.

The current reconstruction program could be utilized to end these anomalies. The door may have just been opened for a vigorous educational reforms process.

Making sense of it all

Sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. The Five Senses. These are the five senses we know. We rely on these senses to perceive the world around us. Religious texts invariably mention the five senses, warning that exceeding the limits of pleasing any or all of the senses can be rather unhealthy.

Now, scientists are challenging this age-old notion of the Five Senses. A startling article in this week's New Scientist reveals that we could actually be having as many as 21 senses. It gives the following example to prove that there's more to the senses than we think: Close your eyes.

Now wiggle your fingers. Now do it all again, standing on one leg. You have your senses to thank for managing this feat - but which ones? It certainly was not any of the Big Five. The senses count seems to be clearly wrong.

We have always believed that animals have a so-called sixth sense, which enables them to evade danger. This debate is raging again in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, which seems to have spared the animals.

Eyewitnesses say that animals migrated en masse to inland areas before the waves struck. The scientific explanation is that most animals can feel the seismic vibrations generated by earthquakes.

Most experts believe that Man could have had this capability in the early stages of his evolution, but lost it as cranial capacity advanced.

Now, new research suggests that we may be up there with the animals as far as the senses are concerned. It is just a matter of using them correctly and realising that we have far more sensory perceptions than normally thought.

Take the case of Ersef Armagan, blind since birth. Twenty years on, he is an oil-on-canvas painter. As New Scientist points out, his paintings are disarmingly realistic, showing a remarkable understanding of the world of the sighted. We usually think that seeing is believing, but is it?

The magazine ponders the question: "How much of what we think of as seeing really comes from without and how much from within?". We think that one cannot have a "mind's eye" without having [physical] vision. But Armagan debunks this theory.

New Scientist also cites the instance of Erik Weihenmayer, who lost sight at 13. Two decades later, he can catch a rolling boll, walk through a doorway and watch a candle flame. He eyes are still sightless, but he 'sees' with his tongue, which has a "sensory substitution" device.

Where does this leave our traditional perception of the senses? The question is not likely to be answered in the near future, as scientists continue research on this controversial subject.

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