Divya, owner of unforgettable eyes, lives in Madurankenikulam, a village about 300 km from thecapital.
I stopped her and asked her name as she was hurrying along the road with a CR book in her hand. Her eyes did not express any sign of fear, but the clothes she wore could not hide her poverty.
Then I asked about her grade in school and her home situation. She said that she was studying in seventh grade and that she lived with her grandmother and brother. “Then where’s your mother?” I asked. “My mother is abroad”. I asked her “In what country?”
 Velayudham |
Divya’s answer was short: “Don’t know”, and it seemed she was trying to avoid me. “Then where is your father?” She replied nonchalantly, “I don’t know”. Divya has never seen her father. Madurankenikulam is located in the Vakarai Divisional Secretariat Division in Batticaloa District. The people who live here are popularly known as the coastal Adivasi community.
Their unique characteristic is that they are the only part of the ancient Veddha people to speak Tamil rather than their own language. Their main livelihood opportunities consist of wild honey collection, fishing, farming and labor. In a world that increasingly values technical skills and higher educational qualifications, and where well-paid jobs are often found in big cities, what are the life chances of children growing up in Madurankenikulama?
I visited this ancient community to find out.
Sathishkaran is a handsome boy who has just turned 18. He was educated up to GCE O/L level at the Madurankenikulam Government Tamil School and has passed two subjects at the O/Ls. “There were no teachers for some subjects in our school. There were no teachers for Maths and English,” he told me.
Sathishkaran complained that he had to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a farmer since he did not have an opportunity to obtain further education or vocational qualification. I checked his claim and there is no vocational training centre close to where he lives. Even those interested in further education have to travel 50 miles to Valaichchenai to attend classes. Therefore, they end up as unskilled labour subjected to serious labour exploitation.
The main reason for the severe shortage of teachers in the school is transportation difficulties. Teachers come from more than 43 miles away from the school and they have to travel by roads where accidents occur frequently, motorcycles break down and they are faced with the threat of wild elephants.
 Sathishkaran |
A teacher who comes to school in the morning overcoming all these obstacles enters the classroom extremely tired and conducts the classes in this exhausted state. Many try to obtain a transfer to another place at the first opportunity. Others have come to this school on temporary assignments or on disciplinary transfers.
“There is a severe teacher shortage in the school,” said Muttuvel Rasan, a teacher in the secondary section of Markenikulam School. This year there are three teachers in the primary section. “There was no one before. Children came to school in the morning and spent time idly in the classroom until the end of school and then went home without doing any work. Therefore, due to these problems in the primary sector, children move on to the secondary section without making any progress.” Rasen feels that the shortage of primary teacher is the root of all the problems: “There are children who do not even recognize letters in the classrooms of secondary education. This is one of the biggest challenges we face while teaching. I approached the principal of the school for comment, but he did not wish to be interviewed.
According to Dayalan, the Grama Sevaka of the village who has been working in the Kunjankulam village of Madurankenikulam for over seven years, the main reason for the disruption of the children’s education is the parents.
“Parents are not sure ofthe purpose of their children studyingfurther. They think that the children are destined to follow the same livelihoodsthat they are engaged in and so thateducation will not solve any of theirproblems. Therefore, the parents thinkthat it is better for the children to learn their livelihood instead of focusing on school education”.
Dayalan was also critical of what he saw as the non-progressive attitudes of the parents, saying thatparents consider their children to be a burden, giving them away in marriage as soon as possible.
However, engaged the children of the village may be in their school educational activities, the destiny of young women like Divya seems to be tied to taking the hand of a young man in marriage after their GCEO/Ls. These marriage unions are arranged by the parents and are registered under the law after they turn 18.
I was told there are many underage pregnancies among these young teenage girls who do not have any knowledge of sex education or family planning methods.
To be continued…