Like ‘Rip Van Winkle’, our Premier awakens..

Our Prime Minister apparently made a startling discovery recently. According to media sources, she urged “a comprehensive investigation into the increasing trend of absenteeism among students pursuing Advanced Level education...”. The PM’s ‘discovery’ of student absenteeism, brings to mind the legend of ‘Rip Van Winkle’.
Rip Van Winkle was a character created by ‘Washington Irwin’ who is described as the first American man of letters. Rip Van Winkle was a man with a habit of avoiding useful work. One day in the company of strangers, he imbibed strong liquor. He fell asleep and awoke twenty years later. By then times had changed and even his wife had died. 

Back in 2022 our country reached a state of bankruptcy. Over 500,000 persons lost their employment, many small and medium term enterprises were forced to close down. Private sector employees had their salaries slashed -some by nearly 50 percent. Salaries in this sector even today, are yet to be raised. 

This is despite the government providing benefits to employers to ensure employees salaries not be slashed or workers not made redundant 

At the same time, the price of basic foodstuffs more than tripled. Transport costs increased. Medicines became nearly impossible to find and the cost of fuel and cooking gas skyrocketed beyond the means of large swathes of our population. 

To face the situation, the World Bank reported, many households turned to negative coping mechanisms. Data showed households experiencing food insecurity were reducing their spending on health and education .
We do not need a ‘comprehensive investigation’ into the cause of student absenteeism. It’s there for all to see. At today’s costs, a family of four (father, mother and two children) need well over Rs.100,000/- to have just three basic meals a day. 

Yet the average wage in cities ranges between Rs. 40,000/- to Rs. 60,000/- per month. In the tea and rubber plantations, workers are still demanding Rs. 1,000/- per day as wages. These unfortunate workers are paid by the day. In most months they do not have work for even 26 days.

 
According to the World Bank, food insecurity is still high with poverty rates nearly doubling to 23.4 percent in 2024. What is surprising is that the Prime Minister who represents a Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) government; even three years since the worst economic crisis hit the country, is pondering the reasons behind student absenteeism in schools. 

Her call for immediate action to identify and eliminate the barriers preventing students from fully engaging in their studies is to say the least -is surprising. Her suggestion to study the causes regarding student absenteeism, reminds us of a past president, who at the drop of a hat called for the appointment all sorts of committees to study a variety of problems. 

Sadly no positive action followed and the reports are merely gathering dust in some government department or the other. 

The JVP/NPP government was elected to power by the people and given a two-thirds majority in Parliament not to hear our new prime minister mouth meaningless inanities. Our people are hungry. Our children as UNICEF and the World Bank also point out, are malnourished. 

We the people, need to see the price of basic foods reduced. We need stocks of rice presently held in the go-downs of a few big-time paddy millers brought into the market. In turn, increased supply will reduce prices. Yesterday’s ‘Daily Mirror’ in its page one lead story highlighted the ever-increasing price of rice and long queues to purchase the same. 

We are also tired of news agencies informing us of underworld gangs shooting each other and innocent by-standers in different parts of the country in broad daylight. Perhaps the police force can be encouraged to spend more time bringing these criminal gangs to justice rather than spending their efforts taking appendages off buses. 
Dear Madam Prime Minister, let’s cut the ‘shows’. Let us get down to the task of reviving the country’s economy and repaying our foreign debt. Let us try to provide our people with ‘rice in the pot’ and create an environment where students can continue their education unhindered.