Back to ABCs

Yep, we're going back again to the unfinished Somawathie series. If anyone has forgotten it already *how could you!* or is new to my blog, do check it out in here.

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Today I will be taking you to a lil school that we came across on our way to Somawathiya, which lies between Polonnaruwa and Sungawila. The school's name and location will remain a mystery to you, as I felt it's best that way, but the story it tells is something worth sharing so I plan to treat you to a photo spree today!

Um.. why we dropped here en route is a bit embarrassing reason, cause it wasn't for sightseeing. We had a hard time finding a proper washroom after we passed Polonnaruwa as it was a Poya day, a public holiday in Lanka, so most shops and restaurants were closed. We found a lil hut selling hoppers by the roadside and opposite this we found the lil school, almost camouflaged from the narrow road.

It was the holiday season and so some folks were repairing a building.. of all things it had to be the washroom they were repairing! Instead of turning back and leaving, our folks went ahead and inquired and were directed pronto to the caretaker's house sitting next to the school. His wife kindly showed us the way to another washroom, small and a lil run down but quite unexpectedly clean for a rural one.

So on our way back to the cab I didn't forget to take a bunch of snaps. What I found here was something truly intriguing, a lil shocking but as much inspiring.
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It's a rural school that's struggling for survival, quite small in size with classes from grade 1 to grade 10. Its total count of students = 24. How would I know? Cause my daring lil cousin sis entered the main building and counted it herself. This was later confirmed when I found their cleaning roster with all the 24 names!

Yep, this one long building housed their entire school. All classrooms from grade 1 to 10 were here. Another small building, perpendicular to this, housed their preschool.. I think.. as it had cartoon like murals on its exterior.

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Let's take a tour around this lil school and see how much they love to learn. They don't need sophisticated facilities and computers to keep up with their counterparts studying at big schools. Even the nearest city of this area has a big Central School five times the size of this.. around 1 km or so away.

But this lil school would remain with open arms, to welcome the not so affluent neighborhood kids who yearns for knowledge.. the most.




See the hanging signs? And the bristol boards? With these they don't need expensive private tuition to study their syllabus.



One classroom = one teacher + 3 students. Some had few more desks than this.



One glance to your left, one glance to your right. You can see the entire school like this.



The teachers and students might be quite close to each other, almost like getting individual teaching. But we heard there were less teachers here, as the newly transferred teachers would re-transfer to bigger schools.



Well, this type of graffiti is something I don't appreciate though. I was taught at my primary school to take a good care of our desks and chairs.. that is one good lesson I've never forgotten. One obsolete desk or chair = one great tree falling down. If you can take better care of school property for many years, think how many trees you can save?



A poster up on a pillar. There were many around the school. Each of them talk about important things students ought to remember.. for life.



Blotted scripts, probably due to rain as they don't have shielded class rooms. The parapets make the classes open from both sides, so rain water can creep in easily, just as much as fresh air from all the greenery.




Things most parents would be embarrassed to teach to their kids but are just as important, considering how rotten the society has become today, aren't left out here.



This is the second building, which I thought might be their preschool. Saw a bunch of tires embedded into the ground, vertically. Probably the kids use them to sit on and chat during their lunch breaks.



Took a sneak peek. More posters, charts and notices! Seems like they thoroughly follow the 5S concepts even in these rural village schools.




At the distance you can see their slide made of cement, and hidden behind the araliya (frangipani) are a couple of swings.



Teacher's table and an empty classroom?




Back at the main building I found something interesting. Can you guess from what you can see in this pic?



Even though it was hiding in a shadowed patch at a corner of a classroom, my radar picked up its presence. A visitor who refused to go on vacation. It was a huuuuuuge toad, probably spanning five inches or more with big fat limbs. This isn't a clear capture as I took it from a distance, so had to tweak it to show its silhouette at least.



Dimiyo or the red ants (the big ones). Found them up on a tree going to and fro from their nest. This was a pic I took while holding the cam *my cam phone of course* high up so the dimi folks you see here are actually walking upside down!



I mentioned on my very first post, about seeing a rain water collector that was unique to the dry zone. We saw it on our way to Tantirimale on 1st of August 2009 but I couldn't snap a single one of them. Some months later on 28th of April 2010 I saw the same collector on our way to Somawathiya. And that was at this school!

The school had its own rain water collector built right next to the main building. This one was at least ten feet or more tall and just as wide. It collects and stores water through that chimney. A tube or tap is fixed to a small opening closer to the ground where the folks here can collect water from time to time for consumption.

This massive dome shaped thing is entirely made of concrete and cement so it's really robust and is quite useful during the drought seasons.
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With this your school tour has come to an end. Thank you for joining. See you next time with another exciting tour. ^__^