Piyawara

Investing in Our Children: Investing in Our Future

Children are the key to a better tomorrow.  As such we believe that a quality education goes a long way in creating huge opportunities for both individual success and national progress.  Considering the huge field that education entails, Hemas honed in on Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) project - a vital aspect of a child's holistic development, which if carefully structured would create the foundation for a life long learning.  Through our Piyawara initiative we have committed ourselves to promoting ECCD in Sri Lanka, by working with government, teachers and parents to up-grade existing pre-schools in remote regions.

The Piyawara program, undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare, focuses on four key areas with regard to pre-schools.  These are the up-grading of infrastructure, provision of equipment, training of teachers and creating awareness campaigns on early childhood development.  There are currently 12 schools across Sri Lanka that have benefited from Piyawara.  The schools have been provided with safe and pleasant play areas, clean toilets and drinking water facilities, basic play equipment, and new desks, chairs and cupboards.  In addition, teachers at each of the schools are being trained annually.  Parent-Teacher Associations were set up in all these centers and the community has been empowered to ensure sustainability.

To further promote the importance of ECCD, educational programmes were conducted for parents at the schools.  We also utilised the media to promote early childhood education on popular television channels.  At present we are negotiating with UNICEF to link the organization's "home-based ECCD" programs with Piyawara.