Girl loses university admission hope due to postal issue

 Feb 25, 2017

L.G.H. Nayana Sanjeewani of Thelawilla Maha Vidyalaya in Suriyawewa sat for the GCE Advanced Level examination in 2015 and obtained the results of one A and two Bs. Compared to the facilities available for her that was quite a good result, and made her eligible to apply for university entrance. Her application was accepted and she was selected by Rajarata University.

She was to get registered with the university before January 30, but Nayana received the relevant letter from the UGC only on February 06.

Her village Thelawilla is a remote and difficult one, and it has a sub post office but without a postman. The villagers have to go the sub post office around three to four kms away and get their letters. Since her father was not well, she could not go to the post office during the week, and her dreams of a university education is likely to be dashed.

“My parents wanted to send me to university and wanted to see me obtaining a degree. For that, they put in a great effort and suffered a lot. I studied well, but the dream of a degree is lost.”

Nayana’s mother says her father did labour work despite his illness and got her to qualify for university entrance, only to be lost in this manner. She requests relevant authorities not to deny this opportunity for her daughter.

Nayana is yet to gain university entrance not due to her, or her parents’ fault. That is owing to the Postal Department’s not having enough staff. Therefore, the responsibility is directly with the government.

What the government is now doing is to plan giving tabs for schoolchildren. That is not bad. But, what the government should understand is that there are students who have the IT literacy to use tabs, but at the same time, there are students who are without the basic facilities to have an education and that even if they gain university entrance, there are students like Nayana who have to lose their dream for a university education.

Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi - Hambantota