01-07-2018 - 07-10-2018

According to the government in Sri Lanka there is legislation requiring preschool teachers to have a diploma in preschool teacher training to be recognized. The goal is * To support early child education (preschool education) * To conduct a program/course of study leading to a diploma in preschool education Training for teachers is being carried out at different locations in rural Srilanka. Total beneficiaries are 3500 teachers. In the last batch that concluded in Oct 2018. 200 teachers were trained and certified. Convocation of "Peace & Reconciliation Program" was conducted 5th to 7th October 2018 and the certification was carried out for the last batch of teachers. Pune Sports City was a participant in both programs. Below an account of the innovative program which was successfully concluded last week end (5th to 7th October) in Girandurukotte in the Eastern Province of Srilanka. To coincide with the Convocation a "Peace & Reconciliation Program" was organized, for 102 Pre School teachers selected from the ecosystem of the 3,500 plus pre school teachers who have benefitted from the teacher training certification/ Diploma program also nurtured by Rotary Colombo East with Global Grants partnered with Rotary Districts 5240 & 6920 in USA & 3031 (RCP Sports City) in India during the past 5 years, participating from all parts of Sri Lanka including teachers from Tamil, Sinhala, Muslim races and Hindu Christian/ Catholic , Buddhist and Islam faiths were put together over 48 hours of group sessions where they got exposed to live, eat, sleep and interact closely in building strong and bonding relationships. The program commenced on Friday 5th October with a unique self introduction of participants and a strong outline of the objectives envisaged. There were many team building activities and sports which concluded with a campfire on Saturday evening. The post event feedback session on Sunday 7th October morning was a testimony of the success of the program objective when one young woman from Jaffna said “our culture is usually confined to family, our community and literally no interaction with others nor rest of the world . This work shop has opened eyes and exposed us to appreciate the way of life and culture of other races/ communities across Sri Lanka and we will definitely use this learnings to infuse this to our Pre school children so that peace and reconciliation starts at school and not at adulthood“ This is a great opportunity for Rotary Colombo East and its International partners to join hands and scale up this program as a National flagship project in the coming years. Participation of Rotarians from Colombo East numbered 13, whilst Rotarians from local partnering & supporting clubs counted for another 13 which included a PDG & his spouse, totaling 26 Rotarian's. In addition there were 10 trainers, 11 coordinators accompanying the teachers from the regions, 3 volunteer staff from Project Chairs office, 2 guest artists & 8 RCC members joining in totaling 60 persons additionally to the 102 participants.

Project Details

Start Date 01-07-2018
End Date 07-10-2018
Project Cost 2205000
Rotary Volunteer Hours 55
No of direct Beneficiaries 3500
Partner Clubs RC Colombo East, RID 5240, RID 3131
Non Rotary Partners
Project Category Basic education and literacy, Peace and conflict prevention/resolution