SL: No country for children and youth

Classrooms are becoming a dangerous place for Sri Lankan students, be they in international, private, or Government schools or State universities. In the past few months, the country has seen several high profile suicides by students due to sexual abuse, mental harassment, ragging, and these are just the ones that have got publicised widely while there are others who have taken their own lives or fallen into depression and suffer from serious mental breakdowns silently.

A few months ago, a student from an international school in Colombo took the extreme step of jumping off the Lotus Tower building. She was a close friend of two other students who had taken their lives some weeks earlier, also by jumping off a high rise building in Colombo. What drove the girl to take her own life was the cruelty of teachers and fellow students who blamed her for the extreme step taken by her fellow classmates and drove her to her death. The teachers showed no empathy for a child who was already traumatised by the deaths of her friends pushing her to take the extreme step.

A student at the Sabaragamuwa University took his life last week, unable to bear the severe ragging he was subjected to by his seniors. Ragging is the worst malady afflicting State universities.

Then there is the unfolding story of the suicide by a school girl in Kotahena recently, with her parents alleging that she had been driven to the extreme step after being cornered and humiliated over an incident of sexual abuse at her former school in Bambalapitiya at the hands of a teacher.

There was a time when children were sent to school so they could learn in a safe environment but that is no longer true. School children are being subjected to mental torture and harassment, unfortunately many times by teachers, while bullying by fellow students too has worsened the problem.

The once noble profession that was teaching is no longer the case. There have been numerous incidents where students, both girls and boys, have been sexually abused by teachers. Parents can no longer send children to school and sit back thinking they are in a safe and secure environment. In the meantime State universities have been places of mental torture and harassment for students for years and the situation is getting worse. The recent suicide of the Sabaragamuwa University student is one such case but there are thousands who suffer in silence. Some students who gain entry to universities drop out too scared to face the ragging, some leave in a few days and those who survive can also come out damaged and go on to suffer mental problems later on in life.

Be it ragging or other forms of mental harassment of students in schools, these are perpetuated by those who may have been subjected to the same kind of treatment sometime in their lives or are sadistic by nature. With the recent incidents, the Government response has been hugely disappointing with the Prime Minister who is also the Education and Higher Education Minister Harini Amarasuriya looking more for excuses than addressing the real issues. Other ministers in the Government have failed to respond adequately to these very serious issues thus leaving the public angry as can be seen from the street protests that have erupted.

There has to be better training for teachers in all schools so that they understand the damage they do to young children by ridiculing, punishing and insulting them. School years shape the future of children and adult behaviour has a huge impact on how they grow up.

Sri Lanka’s State universities in the meantime can no longer bury their heads in the sand and pretend that ragging is not a serious issue. There has to be stern action against offenders and raggers must be suspended from universities while the full force of the law is brought down on them. People often ask where this country has failed. The answer is the failure of our schools and universities to raise good citizens. The fault is not with the children or the youth but the adults who are entrusted with guiding them. When they fail to mould the young into good citizens, they fail the country.