Communities and Parents Support Child Friendly Education
Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka
By Bhagya Ratnayake
In 2010, St. Theresa’s Girls College in Kilinochchi re-opened its doors to students, one year after Sri Lanka thirty year old war ended.
The school was the first in Kilinochchi to recommence its classes with some 58 children, although children were learning in temporary spaces before that.
UNICEF and KOICA joined together to work with this school (and 103 others in 2012) to improve learning achievement for 25,000 students in Sri Lanka’s northern and eastern provinces.
A fundamental feature of the joint KOICA-UNICEF partnership is the implementation of a Child Friendly Approach (CFA) to make schools more effective, inclusive, gender-responsive, participatory and accountable to their students. Because of its appeal and effectiveness, Sri Lanka’s Government has included the CFA approach in its Education Sector Plan for 2013-2017.
And in schools like St. Theresa’s, KOICA and UNICEF are working together to improve teaching and learning methodologies, student assessments and school management, through school development and parental participation activities.
According to the School Development Society (SDS) Secretary. K. Murugavel,who is also an active member of the community: “I know what child friendly education means, I understand better how to support our teachers and our students and I feel more comfortable in my role in the SDS. More importantly, I see my fellow parents also understand better how to support their children’s learning and we wouldn’t have understood this without sessions and guidance from facilitators on why this is important for our children.”
A group of mothers who were at the school to voluntarily clean the children’s classrooms joined the conversation with the SDS secretary. They said that their children’s education is their number one priority. “We come to the school voluntarily to clean and arrange the classrooms for our children. We do it with pleasure” said Vibhushana who was one of the mothers present. She also added that their volunteer engagements with the school help them to build a good relationship with the teachers, so they know how to help their children at home.
Mrs. Jeyanthi Thanabalasingham is the Principal of the St. Theresa’s Girls College in Kilinochchi. She has been the principal of this school for the last eight years. “Before becoming a Principal I was a teacher. Earlier we did not have the support of the parents like we do today. We also did not have a pleasant school environment like this. Now a large number of parents are involved in school management. We have regular meetings where we decide on how to improve the school. We also have a playground, bright classrooms, a clean school environment. Our attendance numbers have also increased as parents see this school as worthwhile, thanks to the child friendly learning environment.I want my school to lead with example and show other schools about how to provide access to quality education through the child friendly approach. I am thankful to UNICEF and KOICA for the support given to my school and for the guidance given to me and my teachers to help our children learn and have a better future.”
Since 2012, UNICEF and KOICA have contributed to mainstreaming elements of the CFA – including parental involvement and community participation - in 104 targeted schools - reaching more than 25,000 students. Their partnership has also contributed to training more than 75% of teachers in targeted schools, improving school self-assessments, development plans, school-based management and classroom assessments.
Furthermore, schools have to capacity to assist children in acquiring essential learning skills using interactive and practical teaching and learning methodologies through a) training of teachers on interactive and practical teaching methodologies (including multi-level teaching, action research methodologies and child centered methodologies); b) availability of appropriate teaching and learning materials, equipment and classroom based reading packs and c) access to reading corners with adequate reading materials and necessary facilities.
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