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Equity through Early Intervention and develop Early Childhood Education in Nuwara Eliya District in Sri Lanka

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Funded by : UNICEF

Project cost :LKR 10,532,918.00

Project period : 1st April to 31st December 2015

Project rationale : While Sri Lanka’s overall education indicators showed that the country achieved the 2015 education Millennium Development Goal, equity in education continues to be a serious concern in the country. Certain population groups fare worse than others. People in Sri Lanka’s estate sector are one of the most marginalized groups in the country because the majority of them descended from indentured labour brought from India in the early 1900s and were not granted citizenship status until 1970s. They lived for decades without state provision of social services. Large inequalities exist in the plantation sector in terms of access to education and achievements.

8.4% of children in plantation schools drop out before completing nine years of compulsory schooling compared to the national average of 1.9%. (Transparency International, 2009). The disparity in survival up to upper secondary education was greatest on estates, where only 54 percent of children were enrolled, compared to 86 and 81 percent for urban and rural areas, respectively.

The proposed project is to be implemented in five Divisional Secretariat (DS) Divisions in Nuwara Eliya district, which is the main tea plantation district in Sri Lanka. The direct beneficiary population of the project is 600 preschool aged children in the selected project area and respective preschool teachers. Teachers, children of all preschools in the district, parents of these children, principals, and administrators will be the indirect beneficiaries of the project.

PALM Foundation will work with the Provincial Preschool Bureau - Central Province, Nuwara Eliya Zonal Education officials, PHDT, ECD Coordinators, the respective government officers in five DSs including Child Rights Promotion Officers (CRPO), Social Services Officers, Women Development Officers, Rural/ Economic/ Community Development Officers, Grama Niladharis, Samurdhi officers, officials of Foreign Employment Bureau and other key provincial and district level ECD actors to implement the proposed activities.

Overall objective, Specific Objectives and Expected Results

The overall objective of this Programme Cooperation Agreement (PCA) is to improve access to and demand for quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) in the plantation sector for 3-5 year old boys and girls, in particular the most disadvantaged. This PCA aims to achieve the following specific objectives:

•	To support the revision of provincial preschool quality standards and related quality assurance mechanisms
•	To strengthen the capacities of preschool teachers, parents and community members in child-friendly preschool development planning, implementation and monitoring
•	To enhance the learning environment in preschools that promotes preschool attendance, quality teaching and learning

	Specific Objective	Expected Results
1	To support the revision of provincial preschool quality standards and related quality assurance mechanisms.	1.1 Revised and agreed upon provincial level physical and teachers’ standards and monitoring tools of ECD 1.2 A complied document is available on provincial level preschool teacher training standard, materials and methodologies. 1.3 Divisional level mechanisms are established and functioning to promote no cost/ low cost teaching and learning materials prepared with locally available resources.
2	To strengthen the capacities of preschool teachers, parents and community members in child-friendly preschool development planning, implementation and monitoring.	2.1 Parental support groups are available with each targeted preschools which involve planning, implementation and monitoring stages. 2.2 Functional divisional level preschool management committees for quality improvements. 2.3 22 model preschools which promote healthy nutrition habits and child rights among the community of the catchment area.
3	To enhance the learning environment in preschools that promotes preschool attendance, quality teaching and learning.	3.1 Participatory preschool development plans in 22 model preschools which incorporated improvement of learning environment 3.2 Improved teachers’ capacity of the targeted preschools on creation of no cost/ low cost teaching learning materials with locally available resources. 3.3 20 % of increase in target preschool teachers applying child-centered, activity based teaching and learning methods and use the local resources to make teaching and learning materials. 3.4 Lessons learnt documented on effectiveness of preschool teaching and learning materials in the plantation sector.