ESDC – Education and Skill Development Centre
The Educational Skills and Development Centre (ESDC) was opened in Kilinochchi two years ago to teach vocational skills to war affected youth. The centre provides catch up educational or vocational courses based on the youth’s needs. ESDC serves the age group of 15 to 18 year olds and presently has just over one hundred youths. The ESDC is managed by Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) and Rural Education and Economic Development Organisation (REERDO). In addition to funding from these two bodies it also received substantial funding from International Labour Organization (ILO). Funding has also been obtained from the President’s fund through the Government Agent.
ESDC has two types of students. Those youths identified in the community as needing vocational assistance. Sometimes parents have brought their children directly to join the ESDC for learning and vocational training. The other category of youths who are learning at ESDC are the underage youths released from the LTTE who either refuse to go to their families or are unable to go to their families due to the security situation in the GoSL controlled areas. The youths follow a very strict routine and pack their long day with book learning, vocational training and extra curricular activities. Most youths stay for around a year. The aim of ESDC is to return the youths as good citizens to family. Parents are encouraged to see the children every three months. Some families strongly protest that their children are not returned to them after release from the LTTE and instead are educated at ESDC according to the child’s wish. There are cases of parents insisting on taking back the youths and then returning them again to ESDC a few months later. This causes a disruption in the youth’s training and also wastes the teacher and material resources both of which are scarce in the Northeast. The LTTE takes a strong stand on the issue of parents demand for the release of the youth from ESDC, when it is clear that it is detrimental to the youth’s learning. This is a dilemma to UNICEF. UNICEF’s concern: UNICEF has raised some concerns in relation to educating the underage youths released from the LTTE at ESDC. Their concern is that the youths after release from LTTE continue to be taken care of by a body, TRO, which also comes under the LTTE jurisdiction. UNICEF is not alone in facing the dilemma of how to view the LTTE jurisdiction. For the people who reside in the LTTE areas, and indeed for the majority of Tamils in the Northeast, the LTTE is a de-facto government providing services in several areas just like a government. International bodies like UNICEF, are in a dilemma, because on the one hand these bodies operating in the LTTE areas are aware of the State like behaviour of the LTTE but at the same time they must report to and be loyal to their parent body that has its own decision makers. Many of these decision makers have not yet woken up to the reality at ground and thus continue to view the LTTE like an armed guerilla group. Also see:
http://www.ltteps.org/?view=1440&folder=2
http://www.ltteps.org/?view=1437&folder=17
http://www.ltteps.org/?view=1448&folder=17
11 July 2006
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Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
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