Bringing new hope to the children of Jaffna

The Colombo North Rotary Scholarship Fund

The Rotary Club of Colombo North initiated a Scholarship fund for the children of Jaffna in 2007. The Copenhagen International Rotary Club, Denmark was the first to respond and sponsored 40 needy children who had lost their fathers.

The Jaffna Peninsula

The Jaffna district continues to experience civil unrest as the 2002 Ceasefire is forsaken between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE). The Northern economies are heavily dependent on the rest of Sri Lanka for power, water, industrial products, food and agriculture products. as well as for market access within and out of the country. Constant roundup and cordon search operations has made life very difficult for the people of Jaffna. After the closure of the A9 road since August 2006, it has been very difficult to get food and other goods up to Jaffna. The people of Jaffna must depend on the ship that brings in goods and usually it is food and medicine. The education in Jaffna has suffered due to lack of facilities, books and other equipment needed for a school. Apart from this livelihoods have been affected due to mined land and restriction on fishing, people have very little to do. As a result people have become poor and the challenge of day to day living has put education as a lesser priority. However the people from Jaffna do emphasise on their children being educated and parents try their best to send their children to school. However this is not always possible.

The project envisages sending children back to school or prevent them from dropping out due to economic reasons. The project aims to provide scholarships by way of books, stationery, schools bags, uniforms, shoes, transport costs and food. Children will be selected through a carefully planned selection process involving the Principals, Government officials and social workers in the area. US$ 20 per month will be allocated to each child. The money will be spent on purchasing books, stationery, uniforms, shoes, food etc. Parents will also be provided with a Savings Book in the name of the child and Rs. 200/- (US$ 2) will be put aside each month in the account.

The project will be implemented by HUDEC- CARITAS (Human Development Centre) Jaffna and monitored by the Rotary Club of Colombo North.


AIM OF THE PROJECT
* To give a chance of a primary education to children, who otherwise would receive no education.
* To give these children chance for a better life.
* To ensure that children who receive a scholarship do not drop out of school for economic reasons.
* To encourage the parents to value an education for their children and keep the children in school.
* To prevent recruitment of children for armed combat.
* To instill the habit of saving.

TARGET GROUP
* School children in Jaffna District between the ages of 6-12.


Criteria for Selection
* Loss of one parent
* Large families with little support
* Age Group between 6-12 years
* Families below the poverty line (Monthly income less than US$ 20)
* Age group between 6- 12 years
* No discretion between race and creed in selection

Problem Analysis and Main Concerns:

Education in Sri Lanka is viewed as a basic right and the government from as early as 1943, adopted policies to encourage schooling amongst children. Schooling for 5-14 age groups was made mandatory by Parliament in 1997. The conflict has heavily impacted children of Jaffna and all aspects of the education system are damaged. Problems such as non-enrolment, drop-outs, absenteeism and poor learning and teaching is widespread. In many of the schools classrooms have been either destroyed or damaged and they lack furniture, libraries and other basic facilities.

The idea of supporting children between 6 and 12 is to see that children are enrolled when they are 6 years and continue to finish their primary education as a minimum.

Challenges:
* The continued conflict and fear of movement.
* The danger of child recruitment.
* Extreme poverty that necessitates parents to keep their children out of school.
* Lack of quality in the educational system.
* Literacy of parents who do not value the merits of education.
* Cases where children would otherwise go completely without schooling.


Monitoring and Evaluation:
* The Rotary Club of Colombo North works with CARITAS Jaffna and will be responsible for keeping accounts.
* A member of the Colombo North Rotary Club will visit Jaffna once every 8 weeks to help monitor progress and success of this pilot scheme.

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Donate now
US$ 20/- per month (SL Rs. 2000/- per month)
US$ 240 per year (SL Rs. 24,000/- per year)


Bank Details

Account name: The Rotary Club of Colombo North
Account Number: 1502988001
Swift Code: CCEYLKLX
Bank: The Commercial Bank of Ceylon, 98 York Street, Colombo 1

Contact Person:

PP Rtn. Jeanne Samuel, 52/2-1/1, Rosmead Place, Colombo 07. Tel: + 94 11 777 795060

Recognition of Donors to the Scholarship Fund:

• The Copenhagen International Rotary Club- Denmark
• Mr. Vaseeharan Nesiah- Melbourne, Australia
• Dr. K Shanmuganathan- Baltimore, USA
• Mr. Chris Xavier- Brisbane, Australia