Mukunthan* was 14 years old when the last phase of the armed conflict began, two years before his O/L exams. The road connecting Jaffna to the rest of Sri Lanka had been closed off. This led to severe scarcities. Exercise books and pens were a rarity. Mukunthan recalled waiting for ships to arrive and then, at 14 years, standing in line with a ration card at a co-op shop to buy books and pens for himself and his siblings.
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has declared 9 September, which is today, the International Day to Protect Education from Attack. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “Education is not only a basic human right in itself – it’s essential to the fulfilment of all human rights.” He said it was an important day of remembrance of the devastating impact of war on young learners.
A 2022 study by Dr. W.M.S.M. Kumari Thoradeniya, titled ‘War and Children: Sri Lankan Experience’, identified problems that children face due to war: child soldiers; displacement; sexual exploitation and gender-based violence; landmines and unexploded ordnance; sanctions; health and nutrition; psychological effects; and education.
Education disrupted
Sri Lanka is no stranger to the devastating impacts of conflict. Having grown up and studied in Colombo, many of us can recall bomb drills in schools, being picked up early by parents or school vans, and hearing of bombs – found, exploded, or rumoured – in Colombo. However, as harrowing as these experiences may have been for us, children in war zones have experienced significant trauma, fear, and unimaginable hurdles to getting through school.
The aforementioned study highlighted that the closing down of schools had a direct bearing on children’s education. The study indicated that children didn’t want to continue with their education even after returning to their villages during the ceasefire period. There was a lack of interest in studies and high absenteeism. A stressful environment, lack of motivation, lack of resources, poverty, lack of family support, and having to become breadwinners were some reasons for this avoidance in education.
Further factors include the death of school teachers, lack of facilities for students and teachers, lack of roads to come to school due to war destruction, and lack of buildings to teach.
There are therefore both direct and indirect impacts on children’s education due to conflict.
Even though some children continue their studies towards higher education within this kind of conflict situation, they are few in number. Therefore, it must be stated that for proper education in these war-torn areas, social, economic, and political attention must be devoted to these children.
Displacement and disruption
The UN observed that attacks can suspend teaching and learning, leading to a significant increase in dropout rates.
Pradeepan* lived in Mullaitivu during the early part of his life, but got displaced due to the conflict. “Jaffna was under military control, so I moved to Jaffna to start schooling there. But, in 2000, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) moved back into Jaffna so I was forced to move to a village. So, I ended up studying in a village school for a year and then returned to the town.”
Mukunthan said: “A few schools in my area were converted into centres for internally displaced persons (IDPs) during the conflict. These schools were temporarily closed for months, and the students were admitted to other schools until their original schools reopened. Although these closures were temporary, they still caused significant disruption to the students’ education.”
“When people had to move into IDP camps, there was less access to schools. There were some who studied from the IDP camps and excelled at their A/Ls. But these success stories are few. Many in these camps were not able to study,” Pradeepan shared.
The Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) in 2015 stated that out of 1,082 schools in the Northern Province, 89 schools remained closed during the conflict period as they were in former conflict areas or in High Security Zones, urging the Northern Province Governor at the time to reopen these schools.
As per a ReliefWeb publication of a Reuters report, in 2022, 55 schools in the Jaffna peninsula were renovated with funding from the European Commission. The same year, Asian Development Bank (ADB) published the ‘Rebuilding Lives in Sri Lanka’ report, which detailed how a wide-ranging project helped return a sense of normalcy to an estimated 1.1 million conflict-affected people in Sri Lanka.
The project’s education-related initiatives included constructing 1,486 new classrooms, providing students and teachers with close to 21,000 desks and chairs, as well as educational materials and textbooks, and support to recruit 1,950 native Tamil-speaking teachers, who filled one-third of the vacancies in the rehabilitated schools.
These programmes highlight the importance of safeguarding children’s education during and after conflict in affected areas.
Struggle for resources
The economic crisis in Sri Lanka gave the youth a glimpse of what it’s like to stand in queues for basic necessities, not have a fan when a baby is crying in the sweltering heat, and not having electricity to study or work from home.
Yet, conflict-affected areas endured several years with no electricity and basic goods. Young people and teenagers who should have spent their time studying, playing, or engaging in afterschool activities were instead forced to stand in queues for stationery and kerosene to light their lamps. “We had to queue up every week to buy kerosene for the next week’s study sessions,” Pradeepan said.
“Those who were from Vanni had more disruptions throughout (the conflict). During the peak of the conflict, there was constant shelling, and even schools were not considered to be safe. Children were completely stopped from going to school, and it took several months to recover from a shelling,” Pradeepan added.
“There were also limited resources in these areas. Some students went to school, but there were no teachers. During the different stages of the conflict, children were forced to constantly change schools whenever it (the conflict) escalated or died down.”
Schools ceased to be a safe place
The UN observed: “Places of education should be safe havens for children, students, and education personnel. However, all too often they, and the places wherein they learn, become either direct targets or collateral damage in conflict-affected contexts.”
Mukunthan recalled his teenage years and said he never felt safe in school. “My school was located inside a High Security Zone, where there were constantly helicopters and their loud noises frequently disrupted our studies. Each time a helicopter landed, it would take at least 30 minutes for the situation to normalise, interrupting our classes.”
He added: “The process of entering the school involved army personnel checking our bags. It was stressful and draining and made us late for school.”
Stories of living in fear and anxiety are widespread among those who grew up in the North during the conflict. Children who did have access to schools were forced to study while traumatised by the sounds of helicopters and bombs and the scared whispers of their parents by the soft light of their kerosene oil lamps.
“Whenever there was news of a nearby bomb blast or shooting, my parents would not allow me to attend school that day or even the next. I remember my mother standing at the gate every day, waiting for me to return from school. Their concern for my safety was evident, and it added to the overall stress of the situation,” Mukunthan shared.
Mukunthan added: “The army used to block the Jaffna-Point Pedro Road to allow military convoys to pass. This caused delays that could last up to two hours, making me late for school on several occasions. The entire journey was fraught with fear and anxiety, and it often felt like a challenge just to reach school safely.”
Impact on girls’ education
Pradeepan shared: “During the early years, people felt safe to send their girls out of their homes, because the LTTE had a zero-tolerance policy for harassment. So, people were scared of harassing girls.”
However, Mukunthan pointed out: “The armed conflict affected the girl child’s access to education differently. There was a girls’ school across from mine, and whenever there were rumours or actual incidents of attacks or shootings, parents would often come to the school to take their daughters home in the middle of the day. This frequent disruption affected the girls’ ability to attend school consistently, and impacted their educational experience more than that of the boys.”
Stories of resilience
Pradeepan shared that there are heartbreaking stories of those who lived through the worst of the conflict and whose education was disrupted. However, he also said that some who survived have now dedicated their lives to ensure children in these regions are educated, especially in Vanni. “Lakshi*, who survived Mullivaikal, now runs a non-governmental organisation (NGO). She is using her lived experience for the betterment of others; her resilience and dedication to educating children in the region is commendable.”
Education in conflict areas is therefore a constant struggle. Uncertainty and fear are part of everyday life. They make it difficult for students to focus on their studies. The lack of resources, disruptions in school schedules, and the psychological toll of living in a war zone all contribute to a challenging educational environment. Mukunthan, highlighting the resilience and determination of those living in conflict areas, said: “Despite these obstacles, students and their families make tremendous sacrifices to pursue education.”
As Dr. Thoradeniya observed in the 2022 study: “Even though some children continue their studies towards higher education within this kind of war situation, they are few in numbers.”
The study concluded: “Children might on the surface appear to be well-adjusted, but deeper examination of their inner world shows the negative effects of war. Therefore, there should be some mechanism to help children deal with the war’s impacts.”
Dr. Thoradeniya added that, although the armed conflict in Sri Lanka ended over a decade ago, its effect can exist in children even today. “At the same time, from time-to-time new conflicts arise and children all over the country suffer due to these new conflicts. Therefore, special emphasis is needed to protect children from war or violence in the country.”
It is thus crucial that sufficient attention and efforts are given to counsel and uplift those whose education was denied, and reignite a yearning for learning and education for the generations to come.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals
(The writer is an attorney-at-law and fellow of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, India. She is currently reading for a master’s degree in gender and women’s studies from the University of Colombo, following her postgraduate diploma of the same. Her research interests are gender, women’s studies, and ethnicity)
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The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication