This document discusses pre-school education in plantation areas in Sri Lanka. It notes that creches were historically set up in plantations to care for children of workers but have not improved to provide proper pre-school education. The study aims to investigate challenges facing pre-schools in plantations. It finds that only 42% of estates have pre-schools, most facilities are temporary, and teachers are underqualified compared to other areas. Issues include pre-schools still operating as creches, lack of mother-tongue education, low teacher pay, and lack of state support. It recommends an independent authority oversee plantation pre-schools, separate creches and pre-schools, provide mother-tong

1. Pre-School Education in the Plantation Areas: A Study on the Pre- Schools in the
Plantation Areas of Nuwara Eliya District
P. Ramathass
Lecturer
Department of Secondary and Tertiary Education
Faculty of Education
Open University of Sri Lanka

2. Structure of Presentation
1.Introduction
2.Objectives of the Study
3. Importance of Pre – School Education
4. Research Methodology
5. Data Presentation and Discussion
6. Conclusion and recommendations

3. Introduction
• During the British rule, when the plantation cultivation was started
the colonial regime brought the Indian labour on the request of
Estate owners. The Indian Labourers thus brought to the country
were settled on the Tea and Rubber Estates that were opened in the
Nuwarweliya, Kandy, Matale, Baddula, Ratnapura, Gale and Matara
Districts of Sri Lanka. They are still known as Sri Lanka’s Plantation
workers (Getha Poncalan, 1987, Sivasithambaram and Kamala Peiris,
1994).
Ctd…

4. • To look after the children of the plantation workers who were settled
on the Estates, day care centers known as “creche” were set up by the
Estate managements. These are called “Early Childhood Development
Centers”. Although their physical resources have been improved,
neither the physical environment nor social environment required to
impart pre- school education has been any improvement. This
because three categories of children – toddlers, play group and pre-
school age group are looked after at these centers. Furthermore, it is
the Sinhala speaking women who are in charge of most of these
centers (Ilyas Ahmed, 2014)

5. Main Objective: To investigate and find out the problems faced in giving pre – school
education in the plantation areas.
Sub Objectives:
1. To investigate the physical facilities available in the plantation sector
pre – schools.
2. To investigate the qualifications of the pre – school teachers in the
plantation sector; and
3. To investigate the problems faced in providing pre – school
education in the plantation areas.

6. Importance of Pre – School Education
• The people in the plantation sector remain historically backward.
Therefore, specific aid programmes are required for the development
of pre – school education. As the young mothers of this area are
employed in the plantations and work long hours in the fields, the
Early Childhood Institutions should run both creches and pre –
schools (world Bank,2015)
Ctd…

7. • Pre – school education would enhance the preparatory stage for the
formal education and help minimize the disparities that exist in the
education of the under privileged sections. The quality of early
childhood development given to these children would do away with
the home and society related negative factors that have an adverse
effect on the child development. In addition, the gap created in the
young children’s cognitive ability due to the lack of access to the
childhood development will adversely affect continuing education.
Ctd…

8. The cognitive ability of children belonging to the economically
backward communities is very low as compared to the cognitive ability
of the well to do communities. Efforts on early childhood development
will be a good investment. High quality early childhood development
has had tremendous effect on the child’s chance to obtaining high
ranking jobs later in life. FUTHER, PRE – SCHOOL EDUCATION HAS HAD
EFFECT ON THE ENHANCEMENT OF PREPARATION FOR FORMAL school
education, obtaining good results, minimizing the school drop outs and
maximizing school education (Aldermana,2011; Nadeau,2011; Nadeau
et al, 2011; Quoted in World Bank,2014).
Ctd…

9. • Providing proper pre-school education at an early age helps the child, in
later life, to become an academia and a person of emotionally and socially
balanced personalities. Proper early childhood development would, by
providing good opportunities for positive child development, help prepare
for the school education. Socialization through social interaction will help
taking care of self and others, linguistic and cognitive development, pre-
alphabetic and mathematic development, psycho-functional development,
pre- reading abilities, high vocabulary, basic mathematic abilities, restrain
and manage one’s own behavior, respecting others, problem solving,
innovative abilities, developing concept and building confidence. (Kathleen
McCartney; Steven Barnett; Angela Capone, quoted in great schools
staff,2016).

10. Research Methodology
• Mixed mode research
• Population: Pre-Schools in Nuwara eliya
• Sample: Simple Random sampling
• Data collection: Observation, Interview, Focus group discussion and
Document analysis
• Data analysis: Simple descriptive statistics

11. Data Presentation and Discussion
Physical Facilities
No of Estate Divisions – 515
No of Pre- Schools available – 218 (42%)
Permanent Buildings – 87 – (49%)
Temporary Buildings – 51%
Sufficient drinking water, sanitation and wash room facilities; play
ground and facilities for activity based education are not available.

12. Qualification of the Pre – School Teachers
(field data and World Bank, 2014)
Areas GCE A/L - % GCE O/L - %
Plantation 29 71
Western
Province
58 42
Northern
Province
70 30
National 14 -

13. Particulars of Pre – School Teachers’ (field
data and World Bank, 2014)
Area Percentage - %
Plantation 100
Western Province 52
North Western Province 35
National 39

14. Issues Concerning Pre – School Education
1. AS both the plantation management and Plantation Housing
Development Trust (PHDT) are still running the same old creche with its
old name changed as “Early Childhood Development Centre’. It remains
an extremely difficult and arduous task to open or run independent pre
schools on the plantations.
2. ECCD and education should be imparted in one’s mother tongue.
However, it is the Sinhala speaking persons who are in charge of most
of the creches in the plantations. This is clear violation of article 30 of
the Child Rights Convention which states “The rights of children of
minority communities to be educate in their mother tongue”.

15. 3. Three categories of children – toddlers, play group and pre-school
children are looked after at the creche. This is a denial of their right to
“fully develop the personality, physical and mental abilities” as
stipulated in article 29 of Child Rights Convention.
4.Pre- Schools in the plantation sector hardly ever receive the state
support. In the Central Province 90% of the pre-schools are managed
by the private sector. But, in the North Central Province 95% of the pre-
schools are run by the state. As a result, pre- school teachers in the
plantation sector get very low wages and they enable to get regular
wages. 54% of the pre – school teachers in the plantation sector get
less than 10,000/ as their monthly salary. This renders the job an
unattractive one.

16. Conclusion and recommendations
1. An independent body such as “Plantation Sector Pre-School
Development Authority” for the opening and development of pre-schools in
the plantation areas.
2.Actions must taken to run the creches and pre-schools as separate
entities in these areas.
3. Facilities for obtaining pre-school education in mother tongue as
stipulated in the Child Right Convention and opportunities for the
development of balance personality should be provided.
4. In the other parts of the country, pre-school education is administrated
by the Local Government Authorities. This procedure should be extended to
the plantation areas as well. This will turn the pre-school teacher’s job in
these areas into an attractive one.

17. THANK YOU