A problem that refuses to go away

Editorial-October 29, 2013

The government remains maniacally focused on infrastructural projects and is going at full tilt to achieve its development goals so much so that it has even drawn flak from the Opposition for overspending borrowed money on projects sans tangible returns in the foreseeable future. Past few years have seen an infrastructure boom in all parts of the country.

Successive governments have flaunted their development projects and boasted of their achievements. But, sadly, they have apparently not done enough to raise the standards of the state-run schools most of which are said to be without even basic facilities. IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,) has reported that nearly one million schoolchildren or about a third of the school-age population of Sri Lanka are without safe sanitation. A government official has been quoted in the report filed on Monday as having said that about 1,300 out of 9,500 schools — or one million schoolchildren — and around 180,000 families countrywide do not have proper sanitary facilities. These figures are based on a survey conducted in 2011, we are told.

A social worker has told IRIN that in some schools children are discouraged from drinking water so that they don’t have to use toilets during school hours. Warning that this practice is fraught with the danger of children developing renal problems, she has said some girls do not attend school during menstruation for want of sanitary facilities at their schools. This is a shocking revelation which should jolt the education authorities, politicians, nay all of us, into action.

The government, to its credit, is opening IT labs in schools and developing facilities to teach English. It has also built several swimming pools and playgrounds for the benefit of schoolchildren. All these projects are to be highly appreciated. But, sadly, many schools are still crying out for basic facilities according to media reports.

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena has said, in response to the IRIN report, that the situation has vastly improved since 2011 and more than 7,000 schools have been provided with toilets and water by the government during the last two years alone. One may not doubt these statistics, but if one goes by public complaints and local media reports besides specific instances cited in the IRIN report, the problem looks far from solved.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa proudly claimed after opening the Colombo-Katunayake expressway the other day that his government had taken care of most of the infrastructural needs of the public. He also prided himself on the fact that his government had completed within a few years some development projects that had been shelved for decades.

The President’s love for children is only too well known. Perhaps, he is the only head of state considerate enough to entertain hundreds of children almost every day at his official residence, in spite of his busy schedule, and give them a patient hearing in addition to food, beverages and books. Now that ‘Mahinda Mama’ has finished most of his development projects, he must be in a position to do a lot more for the children he loves so much.

Sri Lanka is reported to have already met the Millennium Development Goal target milestone of sanitation coverage for 84.5 percent of the population before the 2015 deadline. This is something to be appreciated, but the lack of sanitary facilities and clean water in most schools points to the fact that we have a long way to go without being lulled into a false sense of complacency.

For a government capable of constructing flyovers within 90 days and building ports, airport and expressways in record time, providing underprivileged schools with toilets and drinking water must be child’s play. It should look into the reported dearth of basic facilities at government schools and do everything in its power to ameliorate children’s suffering. Let that worthy cause be considered a top national priority.