Reaching out with love and kindness | Daily News

Reaching out with love and kindness

The donors, teachers and students of Kedannawa Primary school Pictures by Prasad Purnamal Jayamanne

There is a popular Sinhala saying ‘Colombata kiri gamata kekiri’ (Milk for Colombo and cucumber for the village), which highlights the great disparity in state education between Colombo and the more remote areas of the country.

Things have not changed much since then and now, for many remote schools. There is a great disparity in development activities between Colombo and the rest of the country. The facilities in the urban schools far exceeds the more remote schools which in many instances have been forgotten.

This is a story of a random act of kindness by a group of caring strangers which brought immence joy to these innocent little hearts. Development however, cannot be that random.

Around 100 miles away from Colombo, in the North Western Province lies the village of Kedannawa. The village has one primary school; the Kedannawa Primary school located in the Puttlam Educational zone in the Anamaduwa electorate.

Children received their education from Grade one to six but the school can only house five grades. To make up for it, the school has resorted to building a temporary shelters out of coconut branches for the grade five students. Around 90 children are taught by eight teachers in this school.

As fate would have it, as the country celebrated its Independence on February 4 amidst pomp and pageantry at Galle Face, a group of compassionate passengers on the Puttlam-Colombo train line stopped at this remote school, bearing gifts worth Rs. 500,000.

They brought school equipment, sports goods and musical instruments along with them and every child received a school bag with books, stationary, a lunch box and water bottle. The group had found their way to the school upon recommendation by a man named Jayakody who works for the Postal Department.

“Every day we travel on the Colombo-Puttlam train to work. We work in different offices in Colombo but over the years we have come to know the familiar faces on the train and have became friends. This year we decided that we should all go on a trip together but after much deliberation we thought we should just help out a school in a remote area. We came here having called the Provincial Education Department but once we got here, we all knew that we made the right decision,” said Shyamali Keruna Rajapakshe one of those who donated to the school.

“The villagers, teachers and children welcomed us very warmly. We have never received such a welcome. But, we could not hold back the tears when we saw the children using scraps of tin hung around their neck as musical instruments when welcoming us,” she added. Rajapakshe observed that the government had made big plans to distribute tabs to schools children in this year’s government Budget which was endorsed by many. “While the children in Colombo are moving on to modern technology, those in more remote areas still had to make do with scraps of tin for musical instruments. For such a small country, the gap between the haves and have nots is immense,” she added.

A drop of rain on parched land

Many residents in Puttlam are facing the consequences of the prevailing drought and the villagers of Kedannawa are no exception. Much of their paddy harvests this year have failed and many have had to opt for daily labour to survive. As a result the parents have had no time to focus on the children’s educational needs or to even spend extra on them.

“The kindness of these total strangers has been like a sprinkle of rain on the desert. We have suffered for so long that it was as if we had become a parched land that had not received rain for many years. We certainly appreciate the kindness of these strangers who brought us some long overdue respite,” said Sandya Kumari Wijesundara, a teacher at the school.

It has been 75 years since the school was first established and thousands of children have passed through its doors but no government has taken steps to provide it with a building. The present building as well as the temporary hut was made by the parents of the children and it was their money and effort that was put into it.

“Having given everything to Colombo, they are now trying to give the children in Colombo schools tabs, but we don’t even have a roof over our heads. I ask that the officials take a good look at our conditions and provide these children with much needed facilities,” said Wijesundara. Having received the first rains through these compassionate passengers on a train, the school awaits the long overdue monsoons from the government.


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