By Mervyn Fletcher

Vavuniya, Northern Sri Lanka, 10 October 2011- In a region which, until recently, had been mired in conflict, the joyful sound of high-pitched laughter danced in the air, as an audience of rapt children enthusiastically responded to the travelling company, ‘Clowns without Borders’. Charming the gathering of youth with their engaging brand of slapstick and puppetry, the troupe was there to help celebrate the opening of a new school.

©UNICEF Sri Lanka/2009/Elder

By James Elder

GALLE, Sri Lanka, 28 May 2009- The school bell clangs loudly, announcing the start of another day at the Rathgama Siri Sumana School on the southern coast.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2005-0153/Kathryn GrusovinChildren look at their drawings on a wall at St. Cecilia's School in the town of Batticaloa. The school has been turned into a camp for people displaced by the tsunami.

By Francis Mead

BATTICALOA DISTRICT, Sri Lanka, 5 November 2007 – Twelve-year-old Saranya’s school was close to the old front line between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lanka Government forces.