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Kottagama: Classrooms Completed

With funding from Sibford School, UK this project provides much needed facilities to this poor school in the remote dry zone.

When we first visited Kottagama we were struck by the dedication of the parents and teachers in this poor rural community who were struggling to improve the facilities of the school. With the continued hard work and dedication of the villagers, the project is now complete and the school has 3 much needed new classrooms and new toilet facilities.

After ten years saving what money they could and constructing the block themselves, the parents had completed the shell of the building but it was still unusable and the lessons were taking place in makeshift classrooms exposed to the heat and to insects, making learning difficult for the children.

Now, the three classrooms are complete and the children are enjoying having lessons there.

It is typical in Sri Lanka for a wall of a school building to feature the letters of the alphabet. At Kottagama school there are already both the Sinhala and Tamil alphabets and the teachers decided it would be fitting for the new block to feature the English alphabet. In a show of appreciation to the teachers and children in the UK who provided the funding, they have written “facilitated by Sibford School, England” above the letters.

A local artist brightened the sides of the building with colourful panels of cartoons featuring animals learning. These are enjoyed by the children.

At the start of the project there were no functioning toilets at Kottagama School. Existing children’s facilities were broken and none had been provided for the teachers. With children and teachers all using the bushes, compromising and embarrassing situations would sometimes arise, impacting negatively on the classroom environment. The children’s toilets have been repaired, cleaned and painted and new water storage facilities provided to make cleaning easier. A block of male and female adult toilets has been installed.

The well on the school grounds was stagnant and damaged. Now, the water is clean and the well repaired. Children will no longer be sent to collect water from a neighbouring well a few hundred metres away.

Claire received letters from parents, teachers and students, expressing their joy at this new building. Comments included:

“Before completing this building, the teachers had to commence classes under the shade of the tree in spite of dust, rain, heat of the sun. But now everything is ok. I would like to thank you for this great deed”

“As you have understood our school is one of the mot difficult schools in the area. So our children faced a lot of inconvenience due to the lack of facilities. As parents we cold not help them as we are very poor farmers who earn our daily bread with much difficulties. Being a kind hearted person you realised this situation and took the necessary steps to uplift the condition of the school. We will never forget what you did for this school and you will remain in our hearts forever.”

“I was overjoyed to see the beauty of the new building. I can remember how it had been. Actually I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Although you will leave Sri Lanka one day what you have done will remain forever.”

Claire will continue to visit the school and the people of Kottagama and will provide occasional updates on their progress.

We would like to end this project with a huge thank you to the pupils of Sibford School for raising the funds for this important project, to their teachers, particularly Margaret Davies and to Principal D M Ameresinghe of Kottagama who passed away shortly before its completion.

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