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Enjoyment of education impossible under military repression

Sri Lankan government policy promotes “enjoyable education” but this is not the case for the Tamil students in Sri Lanka. How is it possible to enjoy education under the repressive armed military presence in front of schools asks IFTS in its statement to mark the Tamileelam Students Uprising Day on June 2nd. IFTS statement is issued under the banner, “We will not remain repressed and we will all stand tall”. It further says:

“Even at present many schools are used as camps by the military. Many other schools are encamped inside the High Security Zones (HSZ) and are functioning under the military strictures. In some schools, students have to go through the military checkpoints everyday morning and afternoon. Even the parents of the students have to get permission from the military to go inside the school to see their children. How can this situation be conducive for enjoyable education? Especially when we have to go past the security posts of the same military that shot, raped, hit with military vehicles and killed our fellow students like Sajeevan and Krishanthi and is continuing to arrest and torture us.

We, the Tamil students started to raise our voice against the military oppression three decades ago. What started three decades ago with the unfair standardisation process of University entrance has continued for three decades in many forms?

In particular, deliberate errors and contradictory views have been put in the textbooks used by Tamil students. History is distorted in the textbooks. In the past students learnt that a Tamil king built Kanthalai tank. The textbooks provided by the same government today, this history is distorted and teach that a Sinhala king built the tank. This is only a small example. In similar fashion the government is trying to force a distorted history on us.

Three decades ago today student Sivakumaran sacrificed his life fighting this injustice. Along the same path we will rise up on the Tamileelam Student Uprising Day on June 2nd to give voice to the struggle for our rights”.

01 June 2005

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