• HRCSL collaborating with NIE & Edu Min., takes up cause of estate workers’ plight 

A programme is underway to include human rights in the school curriculum of Sri Lanka as a subject to raise awareness among the community about the people’s rights, said the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL).

These remarks were made by one of the Commissioners of the HRCSL, Prof. Thaiyamuthu Thaanaraj, during a press briefing held yesterday (3). Prof. Thaanaraj said that the HRCSL is currently working with the National Education Institute (NIE) to make the necessary changes, adding that the HRCSL has received a positive response from the Education Ministry and the NIE regarding the proposed education reforms. He also noted that human rights will be included in the teacher training curriculum, given the importance of the subject. 

He added that the HRCSL is currently conducting training sessions at the school level, even though it is understood that the expected results cannot be achieved only through such sessions. Therefore, Prof. Thaanaraj noted that effective results could be achieved by teaching human rights as a subject in schools, not only for the students but also for the teachers. 

Speaking further, he stated that the HRCSL is looking deeply into the issues faced by minority communities and marginalised groups such as estate workers and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning-plus community. Highlighting the unimaginable gap between the living standards of other professionals and the estate workers, Prof. Thaanaraj noted that 90% of the estate workers are still at the bottom of the poverty line.

Meanwhile, HRCSL Commissioner Prof. Fathima Farzana Haniffa, speaking during the same forum, said that several reports prepared by the HRCSL into certain controversial incidents and social issues that have not been published yet will soon be published by the HRCSL for public reference. Accordingly, she said that the report prepared by the Commission into the social unrest that took place in Kandy in 2018 is also to be published.