Abishana, who is in Year 7, has not had normal education since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Before 2020, her family was getting by, but then her life took a dark turn when extreme COVID restrictions on jobs and schools, some of the longest closures in the world, resulted in hardly any income for her parents. 

“We suffered greatly in terms of lack of food and could not go to school.” Abishana says. 

She could not join school online because her family couldn’t afford smartphones and that the stress of these issues resulted in increased family conflict at home. 

Abishana and her family began this year with hope and excitement for the future as school closures due to COVID began to slightly reduce. They were hopeful that they would be able to return to school and jobs! But now the economic crisis has crushed these hopes for their future, and they are back again in a terrible and even worse situation. 

“Our parents are no longer able to buy nutritious food for us. We try our best to have 2 meals a day – but even then, one of the meals is kanji (rice gruel/ rice water). Going out is difficult and going to school is challenging because there is reduced public transport. Studying at home now means studying with a small lamp because of the power shortages.”

“All of this has really discouraged me, and I don’t feel motivated to do anything positive anymore”, says Abishana. 

Unfortunately, Abishana’s story represents the reality of over 2 million children in Sri Lanka. Children are being deprived of their education and suffering mental illness. Families are without food, there is no public transport. Prolonged power outages means studying using a small lamp in the dark. The impact of this crisis and the pandemic is having lasting repercussions on children’s education and wellbeing in Sri Lanka