• School transport costs soar by 40%, Rs. 1,000 increase per student
• Fuel concession for school transport on hold
• Uncertainty and disruptions impact student mental health
• Online education short-circuited by power cuts

By Sarah Hannan The past week marked the first few days of the first term for the school academic year of 2022. Given that the entire country is facing socio-economic turmoil, the first three days of the week saw a lower turnout in students attending school. On Wednesday (20), six-year-old Sabina was hanging on to her father and jokingly said: “You will get sunburnt, come and stand in the shade,” to which we quickly responded: “I see you haven’t gone to school today.” Sabina’s father M. Niyas interjected: “It has been very challenging to encourage them to go to school. When she was in preschool last year, the haphazard way the preschool conducted classes affected her enthusiasm to attend preschool. Today, we tried waking her up to go to school, but failed miserably.” Niyas added that the unrest that was reported from time to time was causing concerns about sending the children to school. Following the Rambukkana shooting incident on Tuesday (19) parents have become reluctant to send their children to school, fearing that more such incidents would occur. When asked how Sabina gets to school amid the fuel crisis and the frequently increasing fuel prices, Niyas responded: “For now I take her in my three-wheeler. However, I will not be able to continually drop and pick her up from school if this fuel shortage and price increases continue. I haven’t dared ask school van services about their prices yet.” Speaking to The Sunday Morning, All Ceylon School Children Transport Association Secretary Lalith Chandrasiri said that school van fares had been increased to reflect the recent fuel price increases, in parallel with the decision taken by the All Island School Van Operators’ Association to increase school van fares by Rs. 1,000 last week. “Given the floating price points of fuel and the scarcity of spare parts to fix the vans, we will not be able to continue with fixed rates to transport children this time around. We have to now consider the distance the child travels and the routes that we take to pick and drop the kids from home to school and back. However, we have decided to charge the school van fees according to the socioeconomic statuses of the parents and the requirements,” Chandrasiri elaborated. Chandrasiri shared that prior to the price hikes, during the previous school term that ended on 1 April, a school van consumed fuel worth nearly Rs. 100,000 on average per month. However, since the price hike is almost 40%, costs have increased by 50%, meaning school vans have to pump fuel worth at least Rs. 150,000 per month. “Ensuring that we have sufficient fuel to complete our school van rounds is another task, as we are yet to receive any sort of prioritisation or even fuel price subsidies, given that we are providing transport for school kids. The Education Ministry was to call for a meeting, which is yet to take place under the newly-appointed Cabinet Minister for Education Dr. Ramesh Pathirana,” Chandrasiri further noted. Chandrasiri explained that prices of spare parts had increased by almost 100% due to scarcity, noting: “The tyre that was Rs. 27,000 is now sold at Rs. 50,000. We cannot use worn-out tyres, as we have to ensure safety for the schoolchildren we transport. We cannot afford to have breakdowns in the middle of a school route completion. We are also seeing fewer and fewer parents wanting to access our services as they cannot afford to allocate budgets for a school van anymore.” Accordingly, the 48,000-strong fleet of school vans and bus owners, drivers, and assistants is inconvenienced and finding it difficult to continue providing transportation services to school children.

Students and teachers affected

The shortage of fuel and the inability to access public transportation services these days is not only affecting students but school academic and non-academic staff as well. Given that most teachers and even non-academic staff now use motorcycles to travel to work, they too are faced with the same dilemma of not being able to pump fuel or source spare parts when required. “We do not have bus services and sometimes train services don’t function properly due to fuel shortages and the strike actions and protests that erupt with no prior warning. At the very least, the Ministry of Education should look at providing subsidies for school vans and buses, and vehicles transporting school academic and non-academic staff, and also look at a way to prioritise pumping fuel for such vehicles at fuel stations,” Ceylon Teachers’ Union General Secretary Joseph Stalin told The Sunday Morning. The Sunday Morning also contacted the newly-appointed Cabinet Minister for Education Dr. Ramesh Pathirana to inquire about how the Ministry of Education would address these pain points to ensure that students, teachers, principals, and non-academic staff in schools were able to attend school.  Responding, Dr. Pathirana noted: “The entire country is facing these crises together, and I understand the difficulties that students, parents, teachers, principals, and even non-academic staff have to go through to ensure that the school education system is functioning at a regular capacity. We are calling meetings with the relevant department heads, education unions, school transport providers, and officials of the Ministry of Finance in the next few days to work out a plan and address the very valid demands set forth.” Dr. Pathirana added that currently, the country had sufficient fuel to function as communicated by the Ministry of Energy, however, fuel distribution had hit several roadblocks as fuel tanker owners have been reluctant to send the vehicles to Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited (CPSTL) to obtain the relevant fuel stocks for distribution. “The recent incidents of sabotage and hindrances caused over the distribution of fuel in the country have discouraged the fuel tanker vehicle owners from deploying their fleets. The Ministry of Energy along with CPSTL management, with the agreement of these fleet owners, are now seeking necessary protection through the Police and the military so that their operations could proceed without hindrances. This should get sorted in the coming week, and we will be able to address the shortage of fuel supply to fuel stations across the country,” Dr. Pathirana elaborated.

Students preparing for O/Level and Grade 5 scholarship exams 

During the past three months in which schools functioned, students sitting for national exams and even the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination had to face various challenges. It is unclear whether the syllabus for these students had been covered in school as online education was hindered by the ongoing power cuts experienced by the entire country.  “With all the challenges that we faced during the pandemic-induced lockdowns and recently given the haphazard manner in which schoolchildren were summoned to attend classes at school through weekly circulars issued by the Ministry of Education Secretary, both students and teachers have been affected mentally. Students who are getting ready to sit for national exams and students who are taking practical exams saw exam dates being pushed around due to the country’s socio-economic crises and ongoing public protests. The Ministry of Education and especially the Secretary to the Ministry of Education need to take responsibility for the disruption of school education and loss of school time of students,” Ceylon Teachers’ Union President Joseph Stalin opined. Even amidst the chaos, teachers tutoring these classes had managed to cover the syllabus in time for students to prepare for examinations, Stalin said. When The Sunday Morning inquired whether the Department of Examinations was back on track to hold examinations in a timely fashion, Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana explained: “All necessary stationery has been obtained to print the exam papers and exam dates will be rescheduled at the earliest convenience to avoid further delays. Accordingly, exam dates for 2022 will take place as follows: The GCE O/L Examination for the year 2021 will be held from 23 May to 1 June, the Grade 5 Scholarship Exam is scheduled to take place on 16 October, and the GCE A/L Examination of 2022 will be held from 17 October to 12 November.” Dr. Pathirana also added that in the coming days the relevant stakeholders would be called for a meeting to consider methods to effectively deliver lessons to students and instil motivation in schoolchildren as well as the academic and non-academic staff, in order to ensure that they attend school and contribute to completing the school curriculum whilst making time for extracurricular activities.

Teachers and principals to protest tomorrow 

Education trade unions and the Teacher-Principal Association of Sri Lanka on Thursday (21) announced that they would launch all-island strike action by calling in sick in order to join the protest at the Galle Face ‘GotaGoGama’ site to draw attention to several demands that had risen in the past three weeks. “We will demand that a fuel subsidy is issued to school transport service providers, teachers, principals, and non-academic staff to enable them to afford ever-increasing fuel prices. Furthermore, we are also demanding that priority is provided for our vehicles to pump fuel at fuel stations so we can ensure that school children and the staff are able to attend school on time. We will also remind the Ministry of Education and the Government of Sri Lanka to prioritise providing an emergency relief fund for school education, so schools can obtain all necessary supplies for repairs, and provide sufficient security for children to attend school. These will be our top demands during Monday’s (25) strike action,” Stalin noted. When asked what the Ministry of Education plans to do regarding these requests, Dr. Pathirana explained that discussions would be held in due time after consulting the Ministry of Finance about the feasibility of facilitating at least some of these requests. However, the Minister of Education was not in a position to provide the exact time frames as to when the discussions would take place.