Back to school to drive the change for Katsilaimadu

Katsilaimadu, a village in Mullaitivu, a northern district of Sri Lanka – is best known as the place where the last king of Vanni, Pandaravanniyan was assassinated by the British forces, who colonized Sri Lanka in the 19th century.

But for the children of Katsilaimadu, it’s now also known as a village that has a newly reconstructed school, thanks to a generous donation from the Australian Government.

This school, Katsilaimadu GTMS, was first built in March 1934, eighty years ago.

Nagenthirarajah was first a student at this school, then became a teacher in 1996 and in 2007 was asked to become Principal.

But the school closed in 2008 due to the escalated hostilities in the area, stemming from the war between the LTTE and Sri Lankan Government forces. Two temporary learning spaces for children who could attend (previously the s school had a population of 1,100 students) were set up in Vaipunam, not far from the current school. But after 20 days, these classes had to be shut down as well.

The school remained closed throughout.

“When our school re-opened in September 2011, in its original location, it gave us a ray of hope,” recounts Nagenthirarajah. Three hundred and fifty students came the first day. It was a good start and my team and I were determined to make the school even better than it was before.”

At the time, the school only had five classrooms left, with hardly any roof. Water, sanitation and hygiene facilities had been damaged and the open dug well was unusable. But in February 2012 construction for the “new” school began with support from UNICEF and funding from the Australian Government.

“By May 2013, we had a real school,” Nagenthirarajah exclaimed.

Katsilaimadu GTMS now has twenty classrooms, an office for the principal, a computer lab, an activity room, an agriculture room, a home science lab, a library, an auditorium, a music room and a staff room. To improve the

sanitation and hygienic conditions, two new child friendly toilet units (separate areas for girls and boys) with access for children with disabilities were added.

“Today, we have 573 students - 273 boys and 300 girls. Most of these children come for extremely underprivileged families. There is an alarming 130 students in the school who are orphans or living with

“I am proud to come back to my school and serve. It is such an honor to work as the Principal of the very school I learnt my ABCs at. Watching the children learn in a better environment and being able to enhance their education with better infrastructure and quality learning methods makes me happy”

Mr. S. NagenthirarajahPrincipal, Katchilaimadhu GTMS

a single parent. In order to add real value to the buildings and infrastructure, we were delighted to introduce the Child Friendly Approach to our teachers and students,” explained Nagenthirarajah.

“All my 28 teaching colleagues have been trained on the CFA concept, including ways to proactively support the heath, security and psychobiological wellbeing of the students. Along with my staff, I also got the opportunity through Australian Aid and UNICEF to get trained on strategies to involve families and communities in the development and planning of the school. This was extremely important for me, as I am from this community, I studied in this very school and I need to have the community involved to develop this school. I am truly humbled by what I was able to accomplish for the school. And I am truly thankful to UNICEF and Australian Aid for looking beyond solid construction and infrastructure development to ensure the quality of education for children through teacher trainings and capacity development,” smiled Nagenthirarajah.

Katsilaimadu GTMS has been able to enroll thirteen of its recent graduates into university and four students have been awarded gold medals at provincial level for academic excellence.

Quality school foundations and a quality learning programme – building futures for the children of Sri Lanka.

Pictures Before construction:

Pictures After construction: