GTZ funded report on NorthEast primary education released

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2003, 19:55 GMT]
A report on impact study of primary education of the northeast province was released Monday at the auditorium of the provincial ministry of education, cultural affairs, sports and youth affairs. The Project Officer of the Impact Study Team Mr.S.Varathaseelan handed over the first copy of the report to the Chief Secretary of the NEPC Mr.S.Rangarajah.

Mr.Rangarajah lighting the traditional oil lamp at the event

The impact study of primary teacher in-service activities of the northeast province was conducted under the Teacher In-service Project (TIP) of the Provincial Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Youth Affairs, which was instituted under the guidance of Basic Education Sector Programme (BESP) with the funding of the German Development Co-operation (GTZ).

GTZ/ BESP/TIP/NEP came into operation in 1999 as a result of a bilateral agreement between the governments of Sri Lanka and Federal Republic of Germany.

Director of Education Mr.S.Sivanandan presiding over the event said that the primary education in the northeast province had been neglected for several years. "Our aim is to provide proper and effective education to all students from Grade 1 to Grade 13," said Mr.Sivanandan.

TIP Project Officer Mr.Varathaseelan is seen handing over the fircst copy of the Impact Sudy report to the NEPC Chief Secretary Mr.Rangarajah. Directorof Education Mr.Sivanandan is also seen

Mr.Rangaraja said, "We cannot develop educational standard only by providing buildings, cement, timber and other materials to schools. We should implement an educational policy that gives priority to harness the talents of students."

Mr.Varathseelan at the commencement of the event said that the objective of the TIP project was to provide in-service training to the primary sector teachers, and through such training improve the quality of primary education in the northeast province. TIP commenced its activities with a Baseline study of the sector.

The project was carried out under several constraints, most of which were the consequence of the ethnic conflict. The teachers and children in some of the project areas were constrained socio-economically and their personal security was at risk. Loss of civilian life, damages to property and to social and economic infrastructure have increased the number of people below the poverty line. Displacement of people on a large scale, mass destruction to economic and social infrastructure, the rising cost of living, youth unemployment and the like have contributed to the decline in the living standards of the people. The effect has been very severe on the school children because of their vulnerability. There were also other factors such as the lack of permanent classrooms, inadequate furniture, poor transport facilities that tended to negate the impact of the TIP programme of in-service training. Nevertheless, small-scale impact studies conducted by the TIP/Monitoring and Evaluation team in 2000 and 2001 reflected visible positive impacts at the school level, said a report circulated to the participants attending the releasing event of the Impact Study report.



A section of the participants attending the event



"Northern zones suffered more than the rest on account of the fact that war was fought in these areas for long periods. Embargo on the transport essential commodities also inhibited impacts. The impacts in the war-affected areas have been much greater than one would have ordinarily anticipated to occur under such circumstances. One important contribution of Joyful Learning workshop in the war zones is to the outpouring of joy into the hearts and instilling the spirit of action and adventure in the minds of a set of youthful teachers, principals and officers," said in the conclusion of the Impact Study report.

The Impact Study team visited 289 schools in the northeast and conducted workshops for primary in-service teachers in all five trainers' manuals for TIP activities. The five manuals were Joyful Learning, Induction Training, School Based Education Development, School Health and Nutrition and School Based Action Research, sources said.

A veteran educationist Mr.E.J.Satkunarajah was the Monitoring and Evaluation Co-ordinator and Advisor and the Project Manager of GTZ/BESP/TIP/NEP Mr.C. Nadarajah was the technical advisor of the Impact Study Team.