The first school I encountered was 'Mihiripenna Dharma Rathana Maha Vidyala'. The gate was open, which gave me the chance to take a look inside the school buildings. Apart from the school buildings, the site was quite empty, except for a little playground in the corner of a field. Together with Kokila, I walked around the school grounds and he explained to me the meaning of all the signs on the walls. For example, there was a separate building with a 'director's office' sign, a painted wall with the Sinhalese alphabet, a separate room for English lessons and art class, and signs next to the classrooms on which the groups were indicated (in Sinhalese letters). 

All classrooms were locked. The classrooms didn’t have glass windows, but open windows that are protected with bars, possibly against theft, but also to prevent monkeys from disturbing the lessons. It seemed as if the premises had been abandoned in a hurry; there were still half-filled cups of water on the tables, the chairs had not been moved back in place behind the school desks, there were wrappings from packed lunches on the tables and there were even a few bags with personal items lying around. Despite some classrooms being tidier than others, it gave me the impression that the students and teachers had left hastily. They might not even have had a clue that they wouldn't be coming back the very next day.

I was curious what other schools in the area would look like and if they would give me the same 'horror' feeling in my stomach. Soon enough I found the primary school 'Yatagala Malcolm Primary School', near the Buddhist Yatagala temple. This primary school is on the list of the 5000 schools in Sri Lanka that have been further developed as 'child-friendly schools', in order to improve the quality of education. Unfortunately, I was not able to see much of that, except for the maintained corona measures. What immediately struck me were the signs on the fence, which stated, among other things, "keep 1 meter distance" and "don’t spit anywhere". Sinks were also placed at the beginning of the site for students and teachers to disinfect their hands.

The second school appeared to be better prepared and to have enforced the measures more strictly. Still, I got the same feeling of emptiness and silence at both schools, something you wouldn't normally expect at a primary school. As I walked outside, I passed the playground of the school, which also gave me a gruesome feeling. Children should be free and their childhood should be about having fun, making friends and gaining new experiences. Now it's anything but that.

As you know, all schools in Sri Lanka are closed indefinitely, as a measure to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. To date, there is a lockdown in Sri Lanka, which will be lifted on the 1st of October. It remains unknown whether the schools will open and for how long. For the past 3 years, schools have been alternately open and closed in Sri Lanka, even before the outbreak of the pandemic. The reason for this was the attacks that took place in Colombo on April 21st, 2019, also known as the 'Easter Bombings'. On Easter Sunday, 3 churches and 3 hotels were bombed, killing 253 and injuring about 500. This resulted in a very unsafe situation in the country, as hidden bombs were found even in the weeks after the attacks. In addition to the economy, education has also been the victim of this. Ever since parents have been afraid to send their children to school and the pandemic has added to that.

If you have any questions about my journey or the situation of our Little Leaders, don't hesitate to ask!

Kind regards,

Elisah Sauerbier 

Co-Founder of Little Leaders Foundation