Three rural Sinhala schools received school packs under Muslim Aid’s “Up for School 2020” campaign
Under the campaign ‘Up for School 2020’, Muslim Aid Sri Lanka, under its “Education for All” programme brought joy to 55 poor students and their families
The Muslim Aid team with the support of youth and the school administration, distributed 55 school packs to the poor students from 3 rural Sinhala schools in the Kuliyapitiya Education Zone.
25 students from Wadumunna Sinhala Vidyalaya, 20 students from Uduwewa Vidyalaya and 10 students from Konwewa Vidyalaya received the school packs in December 2019 to start of their new academic year with new school materials. Religious leaders, community leaders, SDC members, teachers and parents, Grama Niladhari officer and Police officers participated the handing over events.
Principals of the respective schools, SDC members, community leaders and two youth groups – Global Youth Club from Annukkana village and Youth Dedication from Kotambapitiya village were fully engaged in organizing the three events. All the families that benefitted from this support are vulnerable and make a meagre and irregular wages through daily labour work. These families often find themselves in despair at the beginning of a new academic year, as purchasing of school materials is forthcoming. The principals and the parents expressed a feeling of great relief having received this support.
Religious leaders of Buddhism and Islam appreciated Muslim Aid for this form of assistance and reach, while stressing that there would not be education development or economic development in the country if we failed in building trust and harmony among the different faith communities in Sri Lanka. One of the faith leaders said, “There are forces in small numbers working hard to divide the citizens of Sri Lanka, but majority of the people are eager for sustainable peace and harmony in our country”.
The Muslim Aid Sri Lanka team assured participants that it is ready to use all the opportunities and resources available to build trust and social harmony wherever it works; and would like to continue working together with grassroot Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities as it has for the past 15 years.