Not very long ago, a child was denied school admission because his father had died from HIV/AIDS. This is not the first story of discrimination, several other incidents were reported lately of children, men and women being discriminated, bullied, raped and killed.
The Global School Health Survey - 2017 conducted by the Health Ministry indicated that bullying in schools was a significant factor which affected children in Sri Lanka. Bullying statistics showed that approximately 31 percent of students in schools across the island have suffered from either traditional or internet bullying.It further stated that, in Kandy, the second largest city on the island and capital of the Central Province, approximately 78.1percent of boys and 26.5 percent of girls had been bullied.
A defect in the Education System
Consultant Community Physician Dr. Ayesha Lokubalasuriya currently attached to the Family Health Bureau who was involved in conducting the survey said that there was a cultural impact attached to bullying because the children are never taught that bullying was a bad habit that needed to be stopped immediately.
“Although parents and teachers are aware of bullying behaviour, they don’t know how to handle bullying situations or prevent bullying from happening. In many schools, teachers ignore bullying signs rather than exert the extra time and effort it takes to deal with bullying cases”, she said.
According to Dr Lokubalasuriya, one of the reasons why bullying is such a problem in schools is because many children today do not know how to handle social situations.
Teaching children to treat the other equally with respect would help to limit the scope of the problem in future, she said.
This, she added was a defect in the current education system.
“Our Nursery teachers are so very concerned about teaching letters and not values to the children. A change in that system would bring a change in society’, she said.
She was of the opinion that the children from a younger age should be taught about resilience and conflict resolution.
Dr Lokubalasuriya said that some attitudes were culturally ingrained in children through their parents but this could be changed through a standard education system.
Her insights clearly proves that Sri Lanka is in need for an education system that teaches children values in order to see a better world in future. Daily, we read of actions and behaviours that show an absence of self-regulation and a lack of integrity, morality or any sense of social responsibility. And according to Dr Lokubalasuriya, a positive change can be expected only through restructuring the present education system.
With a vision for a safe, free and Equal world
“Think Equal” - is a non-profit organization with the aim of empowering change through education. Think Equal was started two years ago and Sri Lanka is the first country in the world to commit to its full implementation.
This project comes in as a complete package which would address concerns expressed by Dr Lokubalasuriya and the change that she wanted to see in the school system.
Think Equal initiated by Leslee Udwin, an award - winning film producer/ Director turned Human Rights Campaigner, is an initiative to introduce a new curriculum into schools around the world that will start teaching children values of life based on empathy, compassion and equality.
The aims to provide children a profound grounding in human rights, equality, empathy, peaceful conflict resolution, critical thinking, gender sensitization, emotional literacy, self - regulation and ethics. It will also provide children with a more holistic education that will begin in the first year of a child’s entry into the schooling system.
Udwin said that they requested the Education Ministers and Heads of states to endorse Think Equal initiative and pledge their commitment to it.
“Twenty eight countries have responded positively so far. Sri Lanka is the first country to commit to ‘Think Equal’ programme in the world and they will be rolling it out in every school around the country from January this year”, she said.
The programme will be implemented in all of Sri Lanka’s 19,000 preschools and over 10,000 national schools. Developed by a proficient team of experts including representatives from the UN, World Bank, as well as academic expertise from leading institutions including Stanford and Yale University, Think Equal works towards the vision of ending mindsets of discrimination through a transformative shift in systems of education.
Udwin believes that achieving these goals will make communities safer, healthier, stronger and more economically productive.
Improved attitudes and behaviors of children
Sectional Head of the Ladies College Colombo nursery Lalamani de Sayrah said early childhood education was the realm of peace building and added that she was happy to have included the think equal curriculum to their syllabus.
“Children who are 4-5 years interact better with the stories. How to be good to people and kind. It’s a very good programme. We wish we can start for the children beyond eight years as well”, she said.
She added that it was after eight years that most of their true qualities are shown to the outer world and by starting this programme at an earlier age, it would make a change in the attitude of children.
Principal of La Petite Fleur House of Children, Galle Ruwini Nanayakkara said that this was a real need in a multicultural society and the children should be taught to respect others, irrespective of their race and religion.
“Initially I felt that it is too advanced for three year old children. At the end I realized it was good to have started at a young age”, she said.
Nanayakkara added that she saw a difference not only in the attitudes of the children but also of the parents.
Therefore, in February 2016 the programme commenced with 18 treatment schools - who have been teaching the curriculum and 27 - control schools - part of the programme but they do not teach the curriculum, in order to see the changes that the new curriculum has brought in children.
Niro Raddella who handled four treatment schools - L.P.F Ratmalana/ Bridge to Peace, Lunugamwehera, Diyathalawa and Zoa in Batticaloa said that she noticed many positive changes in the children.
She said they had a mirror in the classroom and they make the children look at it every day, through which they learn to accept who they are irrespective of their appearance.
“There was a child who had a skin disease. She was afraid to go in front of the mirror or before the other children. We taught her it was okay to be different and with time, all the other children in the class easily became friends with her”, she said.
She further said that they also have a ‘Tales’ tools kit that helped the children find solutions to problems and added that some children asked her if they could take the tool kit home to stop their parents fighting.
Dilki Therumi Hewage, teacher at Royal International School Kurunagala said, when she started she had a feeling that she would not be able to do it as a majority of her students come from rural areas.
“I thought this was going to be hard. For the first three or four weeks, it was hard. When I realized the value of it, I grabbed the idea and did it in my own way. By the end of November I saw a real change”, she said.
Malshani Gamage, teacher at Musaeus College nursery said that the stories deliver fantastic messages and pointed out that usually social and emotional aspects of a child is never taught to the children.
“The children who come to our nursery are from good family backgrounds. But these programs need to be done continuously and not stop at the nursery level to see better changes,” she said.
Udwin explained that the programme consisted of four levels and level one with 140 lesson plans for 3-4 year olds and the 2-4 levels for primary school children has been completed.
Since education is the primary engine of progress, Udwin said that this was an initiative which sought to drive global change and create a new generation of global citizens in a sustainably safe, free and equal world.
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