Colombo – IOM has started to rebuild Vakarai Maha Vidyalayam, a school in the Batticaloa district of Eastern Sri Lanka, which was completely destroyed by the December 2004 tsunami.

The USD 3 million project, which is funded by the European Commission, will comprise permanent buildings for primary and secondary schools and an assembly hall. Some 900 students from Grades 1 through 13, currently studying in temporary structures, will use the facility.

The school buildings will include classrooms; a library; science, computer, vocational and technology laboratories; administration offices; a language centre; aesthetics rooms and a canteen, according to IOM Sri Lanka Chief of Mission Mohammed Abdi Ker.

"IOM is helping the Sri Lankan government to resume educational activities for tsunami- and conflict-affected student populations in Sri Lanka and we are very happy to partner the EC and the Ministry of Education in this venture," he said.

"We hope that the reconstruction of Vakarai Maha Vidyalam will enable a significant number of students in the Batticaloa district to continue their education under much improved conditions," said a spokesperson for the Delegation of the European Commission to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

The school complex is one of a number of post-tsunami projects financed by the EC's EUR 147 million aid package, which targets affected districts in the South, East and North of the country.

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For more information, please contact: Passanna Gunasekera, IOM Sri Lanka, Tel: 5333432 ext. 213, E-mail: pgunasekera@iom.int