Support4Schools

Education with Dignity

It was a lazy Sunday evening when a few of our friends were gathered and having a general conversation. We were shocked to hear a story of a student commiting su***de after being subject to ridicule due to soiling her uniform during her menstruation cycle. In our attempt to verify this story, (eventhough we were unable to authenticate it) we were apalled by the conditions of the toilets in some of our rural schools.

Thousands of children in rural schools of Sri Lanka have inadequate or unserviceable toilet facilities. As such, students avoid drinking water during school hours to refrain from having to use a toilet. Needless to say, this has adverse health effects which include dehydration, lack of concentration, constipation urinary tract infections and kidney damage in the long term. The health hazards notwithstanding, the lack of serviceable toilets discourage children from attending school; some even choose to drop out and end up loitering and become prime victims of ‘vice lords.’ Girls' potential is being crushed by some of them opting out of school during their menstruation cycle due to lack of water and privacy. We also found, that schools with a smaller student population received less assistance to upgrade facilities.

Thus, a group of like-minded volunteers, united through the common goal of providing hygienic toilet facilities for underprivileged schools lead to the birth of SUPPORT 4 SCHOOLS, which has now grown to 50+ volunteers.