The measures target the minority of the mountain Tamils, who work predominantly on the remote tea plantations in the district of Kandy and Badulla in the highlands of Sri Lanka.
Persistent poverty, marginalization, neglect by state institutions have put them in a difficult situation. Particularly in economic terms, the plantation sector has been severely affected. Regular classes are hardly held at the moment and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students have lost access to educational opportunities.
The differences in learning facilities, teaching staff, skills, and qualifications already existed, but the sudden shift to distance learning through COVID had a significant impact on student learning. It quickly became clear that access was largely determined by household economic status and access to devices as well as the Internet.
Fears that limited access to schooling may be reflected in the next set of public examination results and likely lead to even higher dropout rates and the deterioration of educational attainment have occurred, particularly in plantations, especially in Kandy and Badulla.
7 centers in the plantations are to be digitally equipped with 2 desktop computers each, multimedia, WiFi, and a large screen so that children can be taught by all-volunteer Tamil teachers through online instruction via Zoom. Schedules for a particular class or subject are made according to the time flexibility of our teachers, and students are given the opportunity to learn the subject on time or at the appropriate time.
Supervision of the children is done by members of the local partner organization in cooperation with tea plantation management staff. There is a management interest in ensuring that children receive semi-regular education so that their parents remain resident in remote areas.
Project executing organization: Geninsa e.V – Gesellschaft für Entwicklung International Sachsen e.V.
Project partner: Upcountry Social Development Forum
Funding year: since 2023
Project no.: 188-23 ro/A