Back to school to drive the change for Katsilaimadu
Katsilaimadu, a village in Mullaitivu, a northern district of Sri Lanka – is best known as the place where the
last king of Vanni, Pandaravanniyan was assassinated by the British forces, who colonized Sri Lanka in the
19th century.
But for the children of Katsilaimadu, it’s now also
known as a village that has a newly reconstructed
school, thanks to a generous donation from the
Australian Government.
This school, Katsilaimadu GTMS, was first built in
March 1934, eighty years ago.
Nagenthirarajah was first a student at this school,
then became a teacher in 1996 and in 2007 was
asked to become Principal.
“I am proud to come back to my school and
serve. It is such an honor to work as the
Principal of the very school I learnt my ABCs at.
Watching the children learn in a better
environment and being able to enhance their
education with better infrastructure and quality
learning methods makes me happy”
Mr. S. Nagenthirarajah
Principal, Katchilaimadhu GTMS
But the school closed in 2008 due to the escalated hostilities in the area, stemming from the war between
the LTTE and Sri Lankan Government forces. Two temporary learning spaces for children who could attend
(previously the s school had a population of 1,100 students) were set up in Vaipunam, not far from the
current school. But after 20 days, these classes had to be shut down as well.
The school remained closed throughout.
“When our school re-opened in September 2011, in its original location, it
gave us a ray of hope,” recounts Nagenthirarajah. Three hundred and fifty
students came the first day. It was a good start and my team and I were
determined to make the school even better than it was before.”
At the time, the school only had five classrooms left, with hardly any roof.
Water, sanitation and hygiene facilities had been damaged and the open
dug well was unusable. But in February 2012 construction for the “new”
school began with support from UNICEF and funding from the Australian
Government.
“By May 2013, we had a real school,” Nagenthirarajah exclaimed.
Katsilaimadu GTMS now has twenty classrooms, an office for the principal,
a computer lab, an activity room, an agriculture room, a home science lab,
a library, an auditorium, a music room and a staff room. To improve the
sanitation and hygienic conditions, two new child friendly toilet units (separate areas for girls and boys)
with access for children with disabilities were added.
“Today, we have 573 students - 273 boys and 300 girls. Most of these children come for extremely
underprivileged families. There is an alarming 130 students in the school who are orphans or living with a
single parent. In order to add real value to the buildings and infrastructure, we were delighted to introduce
the Child Friendly Approach to our teachers and students,” explained Nagenthirarajah.
“All my 28 teaching colleagues have been trained on the CFA concept, including ways to proactively
support the heath, security and psychobiological wellbeing of the students. Along with my staff, I also got
the opportunity through Australian Aid and UNICEF to get trained on strategies to involve families and
communities in the development and planning of the school. This was extremely important for me, as I
am from this community, I studied in this very school and I need to have the community involved to
develop this school. I am truly humbled by what I was able to accomplish for the school. And I am truly
thankful to UNICEF and Australian Aid for looking beyond solid construction and infrastructure
development to ensure the quality of education for children through teacher trainings and capacity
development,” smiled Nagenthirarajah.
Katsilaimadu GTMS has been able to enroll thirteen of its recent graduates into university and four
students have been awarded gold medals at provincial level for academic excellence.
Quality school foundations and a quality learning programme – building futures for the children of Sri
Lanka.
Pictures Before construction:
Pictures After construction: