Safe Migration Student Awareness Session in a Remote School – Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka

Pahiyankadawala is a small remote village in Anuradhapura District in the North Central Province in Sri Lanka and the population of the area mostly seem to be migrant workers serving in foreign countries. The school targeted to conduct the safe migration awareness session facilitates a large number of under privileged students in the area with low income rates. Most of their parents are migrants serving as domestic aide or semi-skilled construction field workers in the Middle East and in the Maldives. Significantly, a foreign job agency owner has also situated his home based office adjacent to the school and there is a growing trend among this young children seeking foreign employment opportunities through this job agent by leaving further education opportunities offered by this school through free education.

The safe migration awareness student session conducted in their native language Sinhala helped most of the students to clarify their migration related queries and they also supported their parents also to know the right way to migrate abroad. All 48 students participated in the safe migration awareness SMS quiz programme and a random sample of winners obtained a chance of receiving incentives upon participating in the safe and regular migration survey.