Protect the children and save the nation

by Harshi.C.Perera

(June 16, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is not strange when the law and order is weak then the rule of law that shout protect the society will become a burden and could cause ravages to the nation. If the rule of law is orderly, then there will be lots of hope for the progress of the Country.

Education system and the institutions in Sri Lanka are pathetic that makes youngsters reflect their anger violently.

The Sri Lanka media reported recently that a 16 year old student in Anamaduwa died after sustaining head injuries by striking his head on a tube-well after he was assaulted by a classmate. The fight between the two had reportedly started over a water bottle. This is not the first time students have died in Sri Lanka under strange disputes, but this particular incident has created a situation for us to rethink our role in the society and to arrest the present trend in a mature way.

Perhaps this is one of the tragedies that emerged in Sri Lanka in the recent months. These types of pains in the society are widespread from home to school and beyond through all social institutions. Torture and violence are endemic issues in Sri Lanka even after the bloody civil war which claimed thousands of people’s valuable lives. This is what is progressing as a habit.

Children involve in violence in various ways. At the same time, child abuse is common in Sri Lanka, even the so-called most holy places in the Island nation is not free from it. The latest violator is a Buddhist temple.

In the child abuse case in Habaraduwa temple by a monk, even the villagers’ are strenuously trying to hide what the abuser monk did and are all out blaming an innocent helpless victim to pass the buck to save the monk.

Furthermore, it was reported in the media about an abduction and rape of a 17year old student by a worker in the Kalutara High Court just two weeks ago. We as adults have to take the plight of the children very seriously. Women and children are the most vulnerable in every society. If we don't treat them well, it will show our ugliness as a society, as a nation and as a country.

In our schools corporal punishment still prevails, although it was abolished by law. The teachers who assault students give wrong example to their students. The students themselves think they also can hit others because their second parents are teachers and if they can do it, why can’t they.

There should be reform in our society to minimize violence, crime, torture, extrajudicial killings, disappearance, discrimination and impunity. It is urgent at this time when our younger generation is facing untold tragedies.