Sri Lanka Project

Sri Lanka School Project, Progress Report
October 2005

After participating in The Centre for Literacy project to raise funds for a school in Sri Lanka affected by the tsunami, the principal and students of Cedarcrest Elementary School in Montreal expressed interest in creating an e-communication project between Cedarcrest and the Sri Lanka school. With almost $7,000, the school library at the Bathigama School was re-built, and hundreds of textbooks were purchased for the students. The communication project, however, was more difficult than we had hoped; red tape, local unrest, strikes and bad weather first delayed it and eventually made it impossible to carry out with the original school. Despite these set-backs, our liaison, Professor J. Weeramunda, has worked tirelessly through the Sri Lanka Ministry of Education and his own networks to identify another school.

Below is an excerpt from his latest progress report.

Progress Report, October 2005

• Identification of a School

Of two schools identified as suitable for this project, Sri Sumangala Balika (Girls’) Vidyalaya (School) situated in Weligama, a coastal town at the southernmost boundary of the Island of Sri Lanka, responded to my request made by letter. Sri Sumangala is a “National School” administered directly through the Ministry of Education of the Government of Sri Lanka.

• Establishing Contact

On the 25th of October, I met the Principal of Sri Sumangala and explained the nature and purpose of the project. The response was extremely positive. I also donated a computer to be dedicated to this project. The Principal, Mrs. Anoma Dahanayake, called together 10 members of her staff involved in the teaching of English to explain why I was there and identified 4 staff members who would assist students to participate in the main activity of the project, which is to correspond with students of Cedarcrest via email.

• Organizing Supervision and Assistance to students:

At this meeting, the following arrangements were discussed and approved:

1. One teacher will have the main responsibility to manage the communications part and make sure that the students’ correspondence will be sent or received
2. The other three teachers will help the students to correspond in English.

• Meeting with Beneficiaries:

I also was invited to meet a group of 33 students in grades 11 and 12 who were interested in participating in the project. Four of them have computers at home and one of the four also has home email facilities. I was told that interest in participating in projects involving foreigners is very high among the students and helps them psychologically to get over the trauma associated with the tsunami. (The exact reasons for this psychological predisposition remain to be investigated. It is an obvious point in support of the project).

At this meeting, chaired by the Principal with two of the team of four teachers in attendance, the following arrangements were discussed and agreed upon:

1. The computer gifted to the school will be kept at the Science lab and one teacher will have the responsibility to take care of it and ensure that it is used exclusively for the project
2. Students with computers at home could write their own compositions at home and bring them to be e-mailed to Cedarcrest students.

Finally, the teachers proposed the following name for the project:

“Cedarcrest/Sumangala Communication Project”

• Activities Remaining

The next step to initiate the project will have to be taken in Montreal by Cedarcrest School. I have provided contact information to the Cedarcrest principal.

Sri Sumangala does not have a separate budget for the email expenses estimated at a maximum of 600 rupees a month (6 USD) if they use the cell phone card system, which they do at the moment to pay for their own telephone. I suggest that the balance of monies left from the expenditure for books could be used to finance the email expenses for this project. A lump sum of R. 7200 can be credited to the school development fund to be used specifically for this purpose for the first year initially.

Sri Sumangala also has a unit for Special Education for about 60 children who have different kinds of physical and mental handicaps. There is only one teacher assisted by two volunteers who are also special children who have left the school system, as they are over 18 years of age. I have suggested to the Principal of Sri Sumangala to perhaps have one of her students do a profile of the Special Education Unit and send it to The Centre and to Cedarcrest for any help that might be given.

• A pedagogical question

A question was raised about how students from “an elementary school” in Canada could communicate with those from higher educational grades in the Sri Lanka school. My response was that the level of competence in English between the two groups of students could be about the same, but is this an issue that needs to be addressed at the beginning of the project?

Prepared and submitted by

Professor Joe Weeramunda
October 27, 2005

Follow-up

The new project has been named Cedarcrest/Sumangala Communication Project.
The principal of Cedarcrest School will be contacting the Sumangala school to propose a start-up date in January 2006. Regarding the age difference between elementary and high school students, she and her staff feel that this can be used to advantage.

The remainder of the funds raised last winter will be used to cover e-mail expenses as requested by Professor Weeramunda.

The Centre for Literacy will continue to collaborate on the project, specifically in evaluating outcomes and benefits.

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