A dangerous climb for online school

In Pictures
By Editor_1
Sri Lankan children sits on tree branches as they access their online lessons from a forest reserve in their village in Bibile, Sri Lanka, July 2, 2021. Climbing rocks and sitting on tree tops is not part of their curriculum but children in villages surrounding the capital city are doing just that to be able to catch mobile signals to access their online classes. The digital divide fuelled by uneven internet access and high data cost has forced many students out of the formal education system in Sri Lanka -Eranga Jayawardena/Ap
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Text and Photographs Eranga Jayawardena

BOHITIYAWA – Getting online school lessons for residents of a remote Sri Lankan village requires a trek through dense bushes sometimes visited by leopards and elephants.

The teachers and about 45 schoolchildren in Bohitiwaya then climb more than 3 kilometres (2 miles) to the top of a rock to find an internet signal.

Information technology teacher Nimali Anuruddhika uses the signal to upload lessons for her students who haven’t been able to go to school because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The students who also live in the village make the same climb to download online lessons sent to them by their teachers.

Not all have mobile devices or laptops, with four or five children sharing one device.

Their parents, most of whom are farmers, often accompany their children. H.M. Pathmini Kumari, who accompanies his sixth-grade son, said the children climb the rock twice a day and their safety is a big concern for parents.

The village in the central-eastern part of the island country lacks basic amenities, and its children had been studying in a government school, now closed, that is about 16 kilometres (10 miles) away.

In the village of Lunugala, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) away, adults escort schoolchildren to a mountaintop treehouse in a forest reserve. It’s about 10 metres (30 feet) high and has internet access. They take turns uploading their homework and downloading lesson plans.

Schools in Sri Lanka have been closed for the most part since March 2020.

Authorities say they make every effort to provide all children access to education, but Joseph Stalin, who heads the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, says at most 40% of the country’s 4.3 million students can participate in online classes. The majority lack access to devices or connectivity.

Sri Lanka’s government on Monday (12)  began a campaign to vaccinate all teachers with a view to reopening schools soon.

A man climbs a rock in a forest reserve with a child to access the child’s online classes in Bohitiyawa village in Meegahakiwula, in the Uva Province
A student waits for his turn to climb a treehouse to attend his online lessons on a mountain in a reserve forest in Lunugala, in the Uva Province, Sri Lanka, July 3
A man helps his son to put his bag on his back as they prepare to climb a mountain with others to access online lessons in a reserve forest in Lunugala, on  July 3
Children share a smartphone to receive their online lessons on a mountain top in a forest reserve in Bohitiyawa village in Meegahakiwula,  in the Badulla District on July 2
Students attend their online classes from a treehouse on a mountain in a reserve forest in Lunugala
Teacher Ajith Attenayake holds his mobile phone as he uses it to share online lessons with students from a treehouse on a mountain in a reserve forest in Lunugala
A student attends her online classes from a treehouse where the mobile signal is receptive on a mountain in a reserve forest in Lunugala
Children sit on tree branches as they access their online lessons from a forest reserve in their village in Bibile, on July 2
A woman holds her smartphone for her daughter to take online classes from a signal reception point on a mountain in a reserve forest in Lunugala
Students walk down a mountain after attending their online lessons in a forest reserve in Bohitiyawa village in Meegahakiwula
Children walk down a mountain after attending their online lessons in a forest reserve in Bohitiyawa village in Meegahakiwula

-Associated Press

 

 

Editor_1
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