Childhood education vital- Japanese envoy

by Nilma DOLE

Investing in early childhood education programs would benefit society immensely, said Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Kunio Takashi.

He said that the rural areas of the country hardly have access to good quality education and more than providing basic needs, it is vital to empower families with knowledge and education in bringing up their children properly.

"We are happy that Sri Lankan parents incur most of their resources in educating their children so we want to support them by implementing programs not only to develop the educational and nutrition needs of their children but also to educate parents on how best they can provide a good foundation," the Ambassador told the Sunday Observer after signing the two donation agreements pledging nearly Rs. 58 million to the Plantation Rural Education and Development Organisation (PREDO) and to the Save the Children foundation of Japan (SCJ).

He said, "the project allows children to commence education early through pre-schooling is significant as parents can also learn the basics of languages such as English and then empower their skills to help their children."

According to the Chairman of PREDO, 7 to 8 percent of Sri Lanka's total population are from the rural plantation sector. "Only 0.1 percent of the children from the plantation sector enter the universities. Hence developing their standard of education is important," he said.

The PREDO project will assist 11 plantation communities to provide pre-school education to over 300 children.

Shunsuke Yamamoto of SCJ said that the second phase of the successful resettlement project in Trincomalee will benefit the livelihoods of 1,000 resettled families.

"We are working with the Japan-NGO Cooperation Grant Scheme to empower the resettled families with income-generation businesses so that they can earn a good living and at the same time, we will monitor and help their children have better education opportunities".