STREET CHILDREN IN SRI LANKA

Social problems are prevailing in every developing country. In Sri Lanka too there are several such problems. The problem of street children is one of them.

Hundreds of street children can be seen in our populous cities like Colombo, Kandy and Kurunegala. Most of them are in the age group of 5-10 years. The number of street children is increasing day by day.

Why have they become street children? This situation has been arisen due to several factors prevailing in our society. Unemployment, parental death and illness and acute poverty are some of them. These factors have paved the way for these children to leave their homes in search of jobs. These children, if they are left to themselves without the guidance of elders will be a great problem to the society in future. Therefore the responsible authorities should look into this matter and take action to educate them. Otherwise, they will become criminals when they grow up. They should be given a vocational training.

It is said that parental love and affection is essential for both mental and physical development of a child. All these children have lost their parental love and affection. There is no one to look after them. So they roam here and there in the streets. The chief means of living of most of these children is begging. Some children are engaged in odd jobs like pushing carts, washing plates and scavenging. They earn a few rupees by doing such odd jobs. Most of these children compel to engage in illegal and anti-social activities. It has been revealed that certain affluent people employ these children inthe passengers. But some people spoil these cubicles by pasting various kinds of notices and advertisements on their walls.

In government offices, some officers use telephones to give nuisance calls. They never think that it is a waste of public funds. Maintaining the public property is the duty and the responsibility of everyone.

Let us look at the public taps. Some people do not think the value of water. They do not turn off the taps after use. This is a very sad state of affairs.

Street lamps are provided by the local authorities for the benefit of the road users. It is our duty to put them off after use.

Awareness programmes should be implemented in order to make the people aware of the importance of protecting public property. In the meantime the government should take stern action to punish the persons who destroy the public property.