The Tea workers of the up hill country are quite often forgotten in a country which has been torn apart by a political struggle between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. The future of the people of Badulla working in the tea estates are to be changed by a group of young youths who have the vision and the determination to improve the lives of the young children of Badulla and thereby helping to shape the future generation of the people in Badulla.

In a family of tea workers the men in the family will carry out maintenance tasks such as weeding around the estate while the women pick the tealeaves. Their working hours are between 8:00am and 1:00pm. The children of the tea workers aged between 0-5 are left at home while the parents go to work. The grandparents care for the children. These children are often neglected and in some cases are also abused. When these children start attending school at the age of five, they face a huge hurdle, due to innumeracy and lack of basic literacy.

Most children would have picked up these basic skills through coaching at home by parents. The children at school facing these difficulties become demoralized, as they struggle to play catch up with their classmates. Over time they become frustrated, as they get left behind while their classmates continue to improve and do well in their studies. This situation then spirals out of control whereby,children aged between 12-14 years drop out from school, due to their low self-esteem and their inability to fit into the education system. By the age of 18 years these children themselves end up getting married and become parents. Without any basic education their only job prospect is working in the tea estates and so the cycle continues with grandparents trying to raise the tea workers children.

In order to address the root of this problem a team of young men and women have researched this huge dilemma to try to put a stop to this cycle of neglect. They came to the conclusion that to somehow make a difference in these children's lives, the children aged between 0-5 should have the facility of attending pre-schools so that they are able to build a foundation for their studies. Their research showed that 150 pre-schools were required in Badulla for the tea estate workers children. This will provide a nursery place for 4000 children.

Focusing on this goal the young youth of Badulla have opened a number of pre-schools for the tea workers children. This in itself is a huge step forward and is an achievement to be admired and to be proud of. Although their combined efforts have provided a facility for the children, the schools lack in basic facilities such as study materials, toilet facilities, suitable buildings and the most important of all is the lack of training for the teachers.

Currently the teachers are volunteers willing to offer their time in the short term in this new and quite often challenging period of setting up the nursery. The teachers are so dedicated to the cause that they are willing to sacrifice a suitable salary elsewhere in other schools so that they can help achieve the goals of providing an education for the children of the future.

Some of the challenges faced by the teachers are the refusal of some parents to pay for their child's place in the pre-school. On average a teacher at one of these preschools has requested the parents to pay Rs.100 (about 1$) per month for a student. There will be 25 children attending the nursery therefore this will provide the teacher with a salary of Rs. 2500 ($25) per month. When the teacher insists the fees must be paid, the parents threaten to stop sending the children to preschool.

In trying to resolve some of these issues and in trying to move forward towards the goal, a total of 50 preschool teachers have been recruited. All the teachers are completely committed to the job in hand and believe in providing a service to their community and contributing in shaping the children's future. The teacher's salary has been set at Rs.3000 ($30) per month. Although this is well below an average salary a teacher would earn at another school, the teachers have agreed to this salary, as they believe in the long-term results this improvement will have in their community. To date all 50 teachers have attended a 2-day teacher-training program for preschools. This can be viewed as a major milestone in addressing one of the main issues. The following requirements have been identified as essential for setting up the nursery.

1. Initial salary of Rs. 3000 ($30) per month.
2. Ongoing training for the teachers.
3. Basic Study material for the schools.
4. Setting up the local community to work with the teachers.
5. Educating the community.
6. Liasing with community leaders to obtain buildings and other facilities for the preschools.
7. Arranging monthly meetings with all teachers to receive feedback so that improvements can be made.
8. Offering any other assistance required by the preschools

If you would like to support this community and join in their tireless endeavours to improve themselves and break the cycle of neglect of the children so that they regain their self-respect, and self-confidence. If you would like to make a difference and make an impact in these children's lives, so that they reach their full potential and aspire to a better life then you can help in the following way: -

1. Sponsor a pre-school teacher- $30 or £17 per month will provide a starting salary for a teacher and will provide the basic building blocks in developing the lives of 25-30 children.
2. A one -off donation will go towards the cost of setting up the nursery to purchase essential items such as study materials and providing ongoing training for the teachers.
3. Have a clearout in your home and tell your friends and families to donate any unwanted toys and study material that is in a good condition, which is suitable for 0-5 year olds. Non-battery operated toys are preferred; examples of useful items are puzzles, building blocks and books.

We are always grateful for any contribution, if you would like to find out more about the preschools and would like to help in any other way please get in touch with preschool@malaiyagam.org

For more information about Malayagham, please visit the www.malaiyagam.org web site.