To ensure safe and quality education to vulnerable rural children in 13 schools in Monaragala district, through a participatory and responsive community approach

Muslim Aid – UK & Sri Lanka country office has allocated rupees 17 million to upgrade 13 selected schools in Monaragala district in collaboration with the government of Sri Lanka. Under the theme of “Education for All” its targeted 5,309 beneficiaries include Students, Teachers, Principals and Parents of 13 schools in the Monaragala District. A formal ceremony for the laying of the foundation for water facilities and renovation of the science laboratory was held in January 2019. Muslim Aid also launched another 6 activities which were organized and held on the 12th, 14th, 15th and 28th of February 2019 up to the 1st and 2nd of March 2019. The first forum was a knowledge sharing and capacity building special training program for 144 School Development Executive Committee members; the next was a knowledge sharing and capacity building special training program for Principals and Deputy Principal of 26 schools; the third programme was a seminar on a new methodology of teaching, widely known as Child-friendly Teaching methods for selected 78 teachers. Along with this, Muslim Aid also conducted an awareness and motivational session on the importance of Education and its impact on the child’s future, for 170 parents of students from schools in the most rural regions of Monaragala District.

The Uva Provincial Director of Education, The Deputy Provincial Director Education – Planning, Zonal Directors of Education- (Bibile) and Assistant Director of Education – Planning (Monaragala), Divisional Director of Education (Bibile) and NGO Coordinator – District Secretariat (Monaragala) graced the occasions and participated as Resource Persons and Training Facilitators. Under the zonal areas of Bibile and Monaragala, a number of schools both primary and secondary have been in need of support for development. The education sector of government has undertaken many steps to improve the situation, however, those schools have not witnessed expected progress due to the lack of basic facilities and infrastructure development. Hence, the educational community here has been facing many setbacks and struggles. When referring to the educational community, it not only implies the student community, it also includes the Principals and Sectional Heads, the Teachers; the School Development Committees and the parents.

The Educational for All thematic programme by Muslim Aid aims to achieve the goal of ensuring sustainable and quality education to vulnerable rural children in 13 schools in the Monaragala district by providing basic and technological facilities and developing the infrastructure of the schools; which constitutes the hard components of the project. Additionally, the soft components of the project include enhancement of learning and teaching methodologies in the schools.

The program will focus on increasing the involvement of stakeholders such as Principals, Deputy Principals, Sectional Heads, the Teachers, the School Development Executive Committees and the parents through activities such as capacity building trainings, educational seminars and awareness & motivational sessions. In the meantime, there will be infrastructure development such as construction or renovation of science laboratories, school libraries & classrooms partition; provision of water facilities through construction of overhead water towers, tube wells and water spots and provision of school materials and furniture for both teachers and students. After considering the requests and assessing the needs of the schools, under the careful guidance and constructive feedback from the Uva Provincial Education Department and respective Zonal Education Offices, Muslim Aid embarked on swiftly implementing the planned activities. Muslim Aid’s programme is being supported by its partner organization and different Volunteer organizations and groups in the Monaragala District. In order to implement more livelihood and sustainable development projects to uplift and upgrade the district of Monaragala, Muslim Aid established a satellite office in the region. It is also noteworthy that as part of the project implementation, water and sanitation facilities will be provided to the establishments in the region that work to improve the education there and is sought by the local school community. In this regard, tube wells, overhead water towers and pipes will be constructed for the Bibile Zonal Education Office. Likewise, the same facilities will be provided to Gallabe Kanishta Vidyalaya, Kanulwela Muslim Maha Vidyalaya and Bakinikahawela Kanishta Vidyalaya. The foundation laying ceremonies for these activities were held on first week of January this year.