1. A recentarticle inHindunewspapercaught myattention.A hardenedarmsdealer ofLTTEtalkingabouteducationThe Power of Education Through the Eyes ofKP

2. In a very brief interview Kumaran Pathmanathan spells out the purpose ofeducation. It is strange that across space and time, the purpose and needof education has been the same. I would like to look at the deeperpurposes of education through the eyes of KP as he is called.Just to give the reader a taste of whom we are talkingaboutThis is the man who headed the armsprocurement wing and internationalsecretariat of the LTTE. KP travelled allover the world to buy guns and othermilitary hardware for the Tigers.Popularly known as KP, he was, forlong, on Interpols wanted list, chargedwith arms smuggling and criminalconspiracy and was also wanted in theRajiv Gandhi assassination case.After the war ended, KP was arrested inMalaysia in August 2009. He wasdetained in a ministerial bungalow inColombo and released in late 2012. 3. Discriminative ThinkingIf only I had taken education more seriously, Iwould have acquired the ability to think andanalyse issues independently, he says, leaningback on his chair, at his office in SenchcholaiChildren Care Home Kilinochchi. Education gives the children the capacity fordiscrimination between right and wrong. Thecapacity for discrimination is one of the highestfunctions of the intellect that is developed by intellect Education develops individuals who can think andanalyze the facts of life in an original way 4. Non-Violent SocietyNow, four years after the war, says KP, the arms strugglewas a mistake.Attired in a white cotton shirt and grey trousers, KP(nearly 60) looks back at his countrys past with whatseems like regret.Attributing the violence spurred by the arms struggle to the lack of adequate education in the country, hesays: The last 30 years of war have pushed useducationally further behind. Children estranged from development of their intellectresort to other ways of ego aggrandizement and seekingof power, which hinges on base instincts of fight andflight rather than the more orchestrated and nuancedthinking of the intellect. Most often such children resortto crime. Education channelizes the energy of children to 5. Hope and Confidence forFutureMany of them lost their parents during the war, andsome of them are injured or disabled. If they have tocome out of this trauma, education is the only meansand that is my vision now.This is a community that had given up all hope overthe years. Reviving that hope and instillingconfidence is the greatest challenge at the moment,he says. Education instills in children the courage anddetermination to fight against odds in life.Possessing knowledge is a far greater asset thanpossessing money and the greatest insulation 6. Reason over EmotionsStudents should be left to study.Politicians make it an emotional issue. Emotions without reason are blind. Emotionspowered by reason are sublime. Untrainedintellects who do not possess the capacity tothink for themselves become fodder for masspropaganda. Education gives a child the tools tothink and chose the higher emotions rather thanmass hypnosis based primal emotions. All thistakes years of incubation in a healthy schoolenvironment. 7. You can help us in our task of providingaccess to education and transformingindividuals and society by participatingand sponsoring a child through thisproject.Please visit http://www.neevschool.comThese were the reasons why we choseto run the NEEV Rural Kids EducationProject 8. Rural Kids Sponsorship Program 2013-14 9. Kishan is an energetic, bright eyed boy with an ever present smile and bundles of energy. He isson of Jasomati whose works in NEEV Herbal Handmade Soaps Unit. His father works as a dailypaid labourerHe used to play around with other boys in the village who hardly go to school because most ofthe government schools hardly bother about the village kids.His sister Puja, was adopted by a sponsor early last year ; Kishan would look at her with wistfuleyes as Puja would get ready in her school uniform, to go to school.However, his fortunes changed when Lisa and Kellyn, interns in NEEV, sponsored Kishansstudies in the second term, last year. Now Kishan is proud and as happy as her sister to don hisschool uniform and pack off to school.Last year about 60 kids were sponsored by friends of NEEV. However there, are many like Kishanwho await a chance to a better future.You are where you are because you had the privilege to get a good education. Here is yourchance to help others .With Rs. 960/month you can sponsor a Rural Kid for the whole year. Or you can co-sponsor arural kids education for Rs.480/month.For further details please visithttp://neevschool.com/?page_id=13