COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
21.43 On 16 August 2011 Irin 432 reported that:
―As thousands of students begin uninterrupted schooling after a lapse of years,
education officials in Sri Lanka's former northern conflict zone are facing a shortage of
teachers.
―John Edward Solemn, assistant education director of Vavuniya South, an educational
division, said the lack of teachers, especially in rural schools and in the subjects of
English, mathematics and science, was a major concern for the region.
―Of a total 1,016 schools in the Northern Province, 850 are operational, according to
government and UN reports.
―Of these, 720 have been repaired at a cost of US$4.2 million, according to the Joint
Plan of Assistance Northern Province 2011, released by the Sri Lanka government, the
UN and other partners in February.
21.44 A letter from the British High Commission (BHC), Colombo, dated 17 September
2011 433 , quoting the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), reported that:
―There are 101 schools in Kilinochchi District, of which 81 were open and functioning.
The biggest challenges apart from needing furniture, renovation of buildings, plus water
and sanitation facilities, were a shortage of teachers and transport to get teachers to
and from the school. Many schools were still only open for a couple of hours a day
because teachers were travelling from outside of the district.
―There are 109 schools in Mullaitivu District, of which 78 were open and functioning.
The biggest challenges apart from needing furniture, renovation of buildings, plus water
and sanitation facilities, were a shortage of teachers. Transport to get teachers to and
from the school had been an issue but many teachers now remained in Mullaitivu during
the week, returning to homes outside of the district at weekends.‖
21.45 On 3 November 2011 Irin 434 reported that:
―The decades-long conflict has ended in Sri Lanka, but the damage to the country's
educational system lingers, particularly in the disaster-prone east, say families and
experts.
―Conflict as well as natural disasters have displaced families and damaged schools,
said Brenda Haiplik, education chief for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the
commercial capital, Colombo.
―Floods this year alone have caused about US$12 million in damage to the education
infrastructure, according to UNICEF.
432 Irin, Sri Lanka, High demand for teachers in former conflict zone, 16 August 2011
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93508 date accessed 21 January 2012
433 British High Commission, Colombo, letter dated 17 September 2011
434 Irin, Sri Lanka, Education - could do better in the east, 3 November 2011
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94132 date accessed 21 January 2012
168 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.