Community and or Area Profile; Rose Preschools were established in communities various ethnicity which have been identified as needy. The needs of the community as well as the children are analyzed carefully in order to recognize the requirement of a preschool. Areas affected by the civil strife and or completely affected by natural disasters such as tsunami of 2004 where people have displaced and or resettled. Communities with low income generating families and villages with no preschools were also considered to reach the under privileged children.

Class Structure; Students are placed in Play Group, Lower Kindergarten and Upper Kindergarten based on their ages. For Play Group and LKG, teaching is through activities. Students will be taught all three languages such as English, Tamil and Singhala. Students will be engaged in extracurricular activities such as music, dance, drama and sports. Classes are in week days from 8.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.

Calendar of Preschool Activities; Activities for the school year are pre planned and executed well.

First term;

• Sports meet
• Educational picnic
• Term Assessments
• Parents teachers meeting

Second term;

• Preschool day
• Cultural activities
• Term Assessments
• Parents teachers meeting

Third term;

• Religious ceremonies
• Year end Assessments
• Parents teachers meeting
• Preschool Day Celebrations
• Graduation

Support and Facilities for Rose Preschools; Necessary furniture, stationary items, learning materials of various kinds and music instruments were issued to each preschool. Domino’s Early Childhood Education Center in Kalmunai has all the teaching and learning facilities available and essential. Modern teaching equipments like computers, multimedia, television are used for teaching purposes. A library facility is also available.

Promotion; Early Childhood Care and Promotion Campaigns have been conducted throughout the communities where RCSL has been working in by the Community Support Workers and the field staff of RCSL. The members of the Rose Women Groups, Girls Clubs are also engaged in the promotion of the preschool education.

Events along the Year:

In advance; In order to start the school year effectively, on 27th, 28th and 29th of December 2010, a three days long Preschool Teacher Seminar and Workshop has been held long before the beginning of the schools. The Preschool Teachers attached to the Rose Preschools have received trainings in the following topics. The present preschool system in Srilanka; Montessori methods of teaching; Relationships with students and parents; Promoting the attendance; Main skills of language; Activity and play methods of teaching; Use of teaching aids; Communication and child development; Leadership abilities and Techniques in English language

Interruption; From December of 2010, in to January and February of 2011 an intense rain and flooding in almost the entire project area made a halt in almost all of the programs. RCSL had to put most of its activities on hold to embark on flood relief activities within the communities we were working with. For more than a month, the project office has been transformed in to a relief centre. We have estimated that our activities have been delayed by at least three months due to the floods. This caused gaps, delays and or in some cases no events in our scheduled programs. Specially all of our preschools were closed for more than two weeks due to flooding and after-flood effects.

We have informed our Funders of this situation and have received an extension of delivering on these activities. Staff resources have been used double time accommodate the missed out programs with the regular programs.
Regular Monitoring; A Team of Supervisory Staff from Rose Charities Srilanka performs monthly and or as required inspection of the functioning of the preschools and its records. In the weekly meeting preschool teachers report their activities and progress. Staffs from the Department Education, Preschool Education Bureau and the Divisional Secretariat make supervisory visits to Preschools.
January and February; The preschools were opened for its first term activities on 5th of January 2011. For each preschool teaching and activity materials were provided. Educational and learning materials were issued under the direct preschool support program for Preschool children from less privileged-low income families and for preschool students who have been identified as ‘at-risk’, drop-out, destitute, vulnerable and orphans due to tsunami or civil war. A total of 633 children have been reached by this activity. School uniforms, school bags, drink bottles, books and stationeries were issued for the ease of continuing their schooling.

A faction of the Eastern Provincial Government, Preschool Education Bureau started registering all the preschools including the teachers in the province to take over a part of the governance of those preschools. By working with this government sector we could be able to sustain the functioning of all of our preschools in the future.
As a part of the Flood Relief the families of Rose Preschool students were provided with necessary provisions and in most of the case food packs and materials.

An Awareness Program on the importance of preschool Education and infection control after the flooding was conducted to the Preschool Mothers of Malwatta.

March and April; March is the month for Sports Meet.

In the 1st and 2nd Week all the pre school students have divided into houses and participated in various sports events such as track races, duck walk race, rabbit race, eating bun, Identifying & collecting colours, collecting fruits, picking sweets and fancy dress competitions. The preschool teachers have decided to pick the names of the advisory and committee members of Rose Charities Canada as their house names in order to honour their services towards the people in Ampara District. Thereby the houses have been decorated as follows; Mike House, Michael House, Josephine House, Lawrence House, Laurie House, Yoga House, William House, Erica House Krutzen House, Gail House, Charles House and so on. The students have been participated enthusiastically in the sports festival with joy.

At the end of March students of Rose Preschools sat for their First Term Assessments where there progress and performance has been analyzed following which they have enjoyed two weeks of vacation time.
A Mother and Child Drop-in Group Program on the importance of malnutrition of the child, immunization and health habits was conducted to the Preschool Mothers of Veeracholai.

May and June; May and June are the months for Education Tour for the preschool children.
According to the Sri Lankan Preschool Curriculum every preschool children should be taken out on Educational Tour to show them various environments and places. Students of Rose Preschools in their one day Educational Tour saw places of historical importance, places of worship of different communities, Railway station, post office, hot wells, gardens, hanging bridge, sea shore, light house and etc.

A special two days Training and Workshop has been arranged for preschool Teachers on 1st and 2nd of May 2011. It was conducted by Ms. Sonia Herndier, a volunteer teacher from Canada. She trained the preschool teachers how to teach through activities. Apart from this the teachers received more than a month long training in order to increase their English Language skills.

July and August; On 1st of July a cake in the shape of a maple leaf was cut to celebrate the Canada Day. The students of Rose Preschools enjoyed the event happily.

July is the month for the Second Term Examinations. After sitting for common exams students have enjoyed a month long vacation.

At the beginning of the vacation, English Day was celebrated by Domino’s Early Childhood Education Centre and Bharathiyar Preschool, Malwatta with cultural and fun filled events. Students received Certifications for their achievement and Prizes. The guests have not failed to show their awe of seeing the preschooler’s performance.
September and October; A one day workshop trip was arranged for the preschool teachers where they have seen the functioning and the administration of a “Model School” a small Town in Badulla District. Here they have studied and observed the methods carried out by the principal and teachers of a “Model School”.

November and December; December is the month for the third and the final term assessment of the year.
An event to celebrate the preschool day and the Graduation of the UKG students of Rose Preschools takes place. Students perform and show their talents to bring the event to a maximum delight. The Domino’s Early Childhood and Education Centre celebrate its graduation with a touch of Christmas. Along with the Certifications students receive Medal of Graduation and Prizes.
Challenges; Preschool education is almost a new trend in education in most of the parts where Rose Charities have been working with. A complete awareness of the importance of preschool education is yet to come. Some parents do not take the Early Childhood Care and Education seriously and fail to show the utmost interests in their child’s preschool education.
Irregularities in attendance are the main challenge to the Teachers.

Repeated Government elections and examinations in the entire of Srilanka caused closing of schools and offices. As a result of this there are temporary delays and holds in the scheduled activities.

Unexpected events of nature such as heavy rain and flooding caused closure of schools and related activities.
The Media; There were few news releases in the local media about the program. Local and National newspapers such as ‘Thinakkural’, ‘Thinakaran’, ‘Metro News’ and ‘Veerakesari’ have written feature articles on the projects. Also there have been news blogs in community based websites such as www.karaitivu.com, www.karaitivunews.com and www.kalasem.com.

The following are examples of positive reactions from beneficiaries and government authorities that were quoted in the media;

• At an awareness program held in Malwatta for the preschool parents, Mr.V.T.Sahathevarajah (Assistant Director of Education for Early Childhood Education) and Dr. Hilmy (Medical Officer of Health-Sammanthurai) who have participated as resource personnel have praised Rose Charity for its good quality work in education towards that community.

• At an event where school materials and uniform clothing were donated to the children in a Girls Foster home in Kolavil under Alaiyadivembu Divisional Secretariat division, Mr.V.Jegatheesan (Divisional Secretary) has mentioned that he always admires the service rendered by Rose Charities in these areas.

• In his guest addressing, at the English Day event held at the Domino’s Preschool Mr. M.T.A. Thowfik (Zonal Director of Education) said that,“…I am glad to see the performance of these small children, some of whom are from under privileged areas where it will take a lot of effort to bring these children forward, the appreciation goes to Rose Charities.”

Appreciation Letters; There were some appreciation letters from officials (government and or non-government) that we are working with. The following are some examples of positive reactions quoted in the letters;

• In a letter of appreciation by A.L.Sakkaff, Assistant Director of Education for preschools recognized the services of RCSL through its preschool system. He also praised the significance of preschool education and extracurricular activities.

Community Engagement; In order to engage the community effectively, Rose Preschools of Rose Charities maintain a relationship with community based organizations belong to government as well as non government sectors such as Human Rights Commission of Kalmunai and Ampara region, Save the Children, World Vision, Department of Police – Srilanka, Divisional Secretaries, Children Rights Commission, Probation and Child Care, Department of Education, Department of Health, Rural Development Societies and Women Rural Development Organizations.

And Conclusion:
In Overall; Analysis of data shows that there is a percentage…

• Increase in number of children who are able to identify objects and colors.
• Increase in number of children who are familiar with the Tamil alphabet, English alphabet and numbers.
• Increase in number of children that show interest in education, reading, writing, drawing, and coloring.
• Increase in identification of talents among preschool children.
• Increase in a preschool child’s social activity, extracurricular activity and comprehensive ability.
• Improvement in a preschool child’s behavior.
• Positive change in observed behavior pattern.
• Increase in number of children who are interested in doing school work and doing school work at home.
• Increased in number of parents interested in their child’s educational development.

The Test/Evaluation of the Student Shows;

• Increase in number of students scoring more than 50 marks in each test and or evaluation.

• An average of 37 students scored less than 50 marks in tests and or evaluations. This is 13% of the total students. When comparing the initial evaluation this fall is 9% of the total students.

• An average of 225 students scored more than 50 marks in tests and or evaluations. This is 81% of the total students. When comparing the initial evaluation this rise is 18% of the total students.

Through Rose Sri Lanka’s Preschool Support Program;

• 75% of preschool students have an observed development in behavior.
• 87% of preschool students show interest in art activities at school.
• 81% of preschool students are now interested in doing school work after school.
• 78% of preschool students have achieved new skills.
• 92% of preschool students have improved their language skills.
• 55% of parents believe that the English Immersion program is excellent and 38% believe it is good.
• 70% of parents believe that the school environment is suitable for Early Childhood Education.
• 68% of parents believe that parents teachers interaction is excellent.

The ECCE program that is offered by Rose Preschools of Rose Charities Srilanka is regarded highly in the whole region by the educational community due to its enrichment. The children are given the opportunity to develop early in their life equipping them to be very successful as they go through the school system. The program is recognized to the extent that good schools in the region are giving preference to the children who have gone through the program. Last year 92% of the students graduated from the Rose Preschools have been assimilated by popular schools in the area.

By
Rajeeshan Shanmugalingam
Programme Co-ordinator
Rose Charities Srilanka

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