I was walking to my office this morning, because as usual the pick-up was late, as the drivers seem to be bosses these days! I pass DS Senanayake College on Gregory’s Road on the way, and I glanced at the Crest of the School embedded on the wall which said in English, and not Latin (the Crest I downloaded from Wikipedia is in Sinhala and therefore has the motto in Sinhala?) which said “Country before Self”.
That is a very noble motto to have and to live by and if we all did that we in Sri Lanka will without doubt be paradise on earth, where people will never wish to leave and everyone wishes to come to. I certainly try my best to live in accordance with that motto alongside other goals.
As I looked up at the classrooms, I was appalled at what I saw. All the classrooms have at least two tube lights on (on a clear sunny morning) and two fans to a class on full!!!! Now when I went to school we had no lights on a clear day, and only if it was raining and overcast would they even contemplate switching lights, and no never a fan in a class room.
We are going through a drought. Our hydroelectric reservoirs are empty we are importing thermal fuel at huge cost to cover the shortfall, the Minister of Power & Energy has appealed to all of us to reduce out energy usage. Who pays the bills? Is it the department of education, as it is a State School or is it the parents who pay the electric bill? I am not sure of the answers to that question, but that answer is irrelevant.
It is the duty of the school to explain the problems the country is undergoing and inform the students that in the interests of energy conservation, they will have to study without fans and use lights sparingly. I cannot understand why these school rooms which have open windows, grills or meshes on two sides, cannot draw sufficient light into the class rooms. It is the fault of the architects not to design the rooms to obtain maximum advantage of ambient light not to require artificial light.
It is the responsibility of the school to give their charges an understanding of conservation, environmental protection and patriotism. The best way to do this is to show commitment by way of example. The country is going through a temporary crisis and if the school, acts on its motto now, the students will understand what the motto means. I challenge anyone to test their knowledge of the motto and its intentions.
2 comments:
I disagree here.
Sri Lanka is suffering the power crisis because of politicians.
Why should students suffer without fans so their leaders can use the savings to line their pockets?
The best thing that can happen to SL is to go bankrupt. Then people will kick the government out, which is the only hope for a better future.
So you see, the school is being patriotic by running lights and fans. We should all do our part and run our A/C's full time!
can you explain to your readers why food prices are supposedly so expensive in Sri Lanka? On the one hand, consumers are saying food is too expensive, and on the other hand producers are throwing their produce into the streets as they can't sell it. What's going on??????
Is the problem solvable?
Please articulate as soon as you can.
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