RSSAs Sri Lankan children prepare to begin the new school year in January, a top seller in bookstores has been an exercise book with a maxim or Bible quotation at the top of every page.
The initial print-run of 10,000 copies of the 80-page, lined exercise book, priced at 20 rupees (US$0.20), arrived early in December and ran out within a few days. Parents and children snapped them up from bookstores in Colombo including the one in the Archbishop’s House compound.
The publisher, Home of Good News, is an NGO run by lay Buddhists and Christians who work with Christian priests and Buddhist monks to offer moral guidance to society.
Michael Perera, one of the directors, says the exercise books “will help the children to determine right from wrong when they are alone.”
According to Perera, Buddhists, Catholics and Protestants set up Home of Good News in 2006 to publish and spread quotations from their religions, especially during religious festival days.
For this year, according to Perera, they decided to publish something to implant moral values in the minds of students as a way of building good character.
The page-top reminders, written in Sinhalese and English, include: “Our parents know drugs are dangerous,” “I know instead of bad things, we can spend for the poor,” “We always hate drugs and smoking,” “Teachers love us,” and “My father is keen on my studies.”
The 84 Bible quotations include: “No evil can come upon you nor any plague” (Psalm 91:10). Another, from Saint Matthew´s Gospel, is: “Think not of tomorrow for it shall take care of itself. The evil of the day is enough.”
The maxims and quotations fly in the face of the deluge of bad influences that Perera sees as coming from the Internet, TV programs, electronic games, music videos and some of the children´s peers.
He cited poor behavior on the streets and even in classes as demonstrating the effects of these bad influences.
Father Ivan Perera, national director of Catholic education, told UCA News he and Father Alexius Benedict, director of the Drug and Alcohol Prevention Centre in Tudella, Colombo, had worked with Home of Good News to produce maxims aimed at putting kids on the right path.
“The school atmosphere offers a valuable foundation, after the family, to develop cultural and moral values,” he said.
Judging from the response of customers in the Archbishop’s House bookstore, the effort is appreciated.
Yashodha Madhuwanthi Mendis, 14, who attends the Our Lady of Victories Convent school, told UCA News she liked the books. “The cover page educates children to avoid drugs, tobacco and alcohol,” she explained.
Rajini Christopher, a mother four, said the books complement other ways of teaching moral values. Her worries include children hitting each other, disobeying their parents, getting bad school reports and getting low marks in examinations. “This is a good attempt to preserve our values,” she said of the exercise books.
Another mother in the shop found it refreshing to see Bible passages on the cover rather than the usual pictures of aircraft, cars or animals. The books offer a “no” to bad habits, she said.
Perera said another 10,000 copies of the books have just been delivered to bookshops. Copies will also be distributed to Sunday school children through their respective parish priests.
“We have a plan to print 120-page exercise books in the same style,” he added.
They plan to print books with Buddhist quotations during the New Year period Buddhists and Hindus celebrate in April.
“We don’t expect a profit from this program but need to promote moral values,” Perera said.
END
Share
Twitter