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This paper attempts to explore the factors that attract and encourage individuals to live in low-income neighbourhoods in Colombo in spite of the many socioeconomic issues that are associated with such communities. Data was collected through 30 face-to-face in-depth interviews with residents from two underserved communities consisting of individuals with different migration experiences. The collected data was then analysed using the three-dimensional well-being model introduced by Pouw and McGregor (2014). The study revealed a situation of material and relational wellbeing intersecting to create a more practical kind of well-being in the communities studied. Of the two, material well-being had the strongest power to attract and retain residents in the neighbourhoods while relational wellbeing played a supportive role in terms of pulling people into the community. Subjective well-being, on the other hand, was identified as the strongest reason with a capacity to push people away from the community. However, this single push factor was not strong enough to overpower the pull effect of material and relational well-being, particularly because of the residents’ low-income status. The material benefits of living in the location facilitated by social ties offered by the neighbourhood kept these residents attracted and attached to these underserved communities.

An increase in emphasis on research productivity evaluation can be discerned commonly in higher educational institutions world over. As far as the Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna is concerned such an in depth study had not been done. This bibliometric study analyzed the research publications produced by the academics of Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna. The objective of this study is to empirically measure the research output during the time period of 2003 to 2018 to find out the department wise output, year wise publication output, authorship pattern and degree of collaboration, media of research communication, relative growth rate, doubling time and to forecast future publication trend of academics. The year wise publication output shows an increasing pattern. But the output growth is not uniform. Findings revealed that Faculty of Science has produced 1359 publications with an annual average of 85 and with the maximum of 139 during the study period. The highest number of publications is from the Department of Zoology (22%). The Department of Botany shows second highest number with 21% of the publications. The lowest number is from the Department of Fisheries (4%). The research output from departments of Physics, Mathematics and Statistics, and Chemistry are more or less the same. Mean value of the degree of collaboration of authors during the overall sixteen years is found to be 0.84. Single author publications are less (15%) than collaborative effort (85%). Abstract form of publications is more in number 836 (61%). Journal article is 501 (37%) and Book form is 22 (2%).

The primary objective of the study was to explore the experiences of children during and after 30 years of civil war with particular attention on its impact on their academic learning. The research intended to answer two research questions, namely 1) How did the war impact on children’s education? and 2) What support networks were available for children affected by war to remain in school and/or to continuously engage in academic learning? The research was carried out in the Jaffna District of Northern Sri Lanka and depended entirely on qualitative data generated through in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, focus groups discussions and observations. Multiple displacements caused by war, the impact of war on livelihoods and the trauma caused by war has resulted in some students losing interest in school and eventually dropping out. In spite of various financial and other support provided by local and international NGOs only some children have remained in school with a sustained interest in education. A characteristic common to these children was that they came from more ‘secure’ family backgrounds. The security offered by intimate relationships within the family seems crucial for educational success even during times of war. The findings suggest the need for strengthening family well-being and stronger emotional support to ensure sustained interest in education during times of war.

This study aimed to understand the reasons that encouraged student teachers who are following the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) Degree at the Faculty of Education, University of Colombo to join the teaching profession. A purposive sample of thirty undergraduates were selected for study. Data gathering was done using semi-structured interviews. The reasons presented by the student teachers were categorized into intrinsic, extrinsic and altruistic reasons. Belief in one's personal characteristics as being suited for a career in teaching and personal interest were among the intrinsic reasons identified. Extrinsic reasons included reasons such as admiration for the physical appearance of teachers, social position attributed to teaching as a 'noble' profession, secured job with an adequate income, opportunities offered for career advancement and benefits for a balanced family life. Altruistic reasons were among the least mentioned reasons. Some participants mentioned a desire to contribute towards the wellbeing of children. The study also found that joining the B.Ed. programme with the sole intention of securing a job could lead to the recruitment of less suitable (though qualified) individuals to the profession. The findings of this study could be used to increase the quality of the process of producing and recruiting teachers.