IS YOUR LITTLE ONE NURTURED?
There is a serious lack of legislation governing the system
IS YOUR LITTLE ONE NURTURED?
Holistic learning that nurtures physical, intellectual, emotional, social and creative development is the right of every child. Learning that inspires wholesome growth, ensures that a solid foundation is laid for the transition from childhood to adulthood. Early childhood education therefore has a lasting effect on a child’s future. Are there sufficient laws governing the system of early childhood education in Sri Lanka? How safe are your children in pre-schools and day cares? Is the government doing enough to ensure that children are protected and that legislation is enforced to avoid the deterioration of early childhood education? Mirror Insight investigates.
Shanthi Wijesinghe, Directress of Seekers and resource person Seekers Research who is also a graduate in Child Psychology and the Montessori Method of Education emphasises that the absence of proper legislation governing the early childhood education system is a cause for concern. She points out that it is vital that there are laws that ensure the establishment of standards that focus on the child’s physical, intellectual, social and emotional development. “The policies that have been outlined for early childhood education are limited only to paper. Early childhood education has over the years changed hands from one ministry to another, but there are very few people who understand the core philosophy behind it, or the importance of it,” she says.
According to Wijesinghe, the government which continuously reiterates the importance of protecting children should focus on cognitive nation building rather than development that is superfluous. She also pointed out that there is a high possibility of endangering the holistic development of a child in the hands of unqualified teachers and directresses.
“There is no legislation or proper guidelines for directresses who run these Montessories. There isn’t even a minimum requirement that has been enforced, that’s why we have unqualified people running Montessories. I’ve also come across teachers who produce diplomas that are offered in six months or sometimes even a day, when looking for employment. In some institutions teachers are whizzed through the course for early childhood education, without being given any practical knowledge on handling a classroom full of children. Sadly, the advancement of the teacher is almost nonexistent and most often some of them are not even given the facility of being trained for the job,” she says.
This inadequacy in experience and educational qualifications has also resulted in the gradual increase in abuse in Montessories, according to Wijesinghe. Highlighting the significant impact early childhood education has on a growing child, she mentioned that zero to eight years, were the most important part of a child’s overall development, therefore, every child is entitled to a sound education in a safe environment where they are accepted and respected for who they are and not harassed by anyone.
“I think it was a grave mistake that breastfeeding and grade one education was once declared as compulsory for a child, but early childhood education, didn’t receive that kind of importance. It’s time that the legislature takes effective steps to develop a legal framework for early childhood education and educators are given the respect they deserve. There needs to be early childhood education programmes that are created specifically for each province in the country, that focus on the individual needs of these provinces. The government has to also upgrade the department in charge of early childhood education, to ensure that there won’t be a deterioration of values” she says.
Minoli Fernando*, a directress of a preschool speaking on the status of early childhood education in Sri Lanka believes that the excessive competitiveness in the industry, has led to the deterioration of core values that need emphasis when establishing a pre-school or Montessori. “The competitiveness in the industry of early childhood education has resulted in the losing of focus on what should be important—nurturing the child. It is very easy to open up a preschool and in the process a lot of compromise is made to the standard of early childhood education. The biggest problem facing the early childhood education system is that there is really no governing body for pre-schools or child care centres in Sri Lanka. Everyone and anyone can open a child care centre or a preschool overnight. There is no one to make sure all standards are met before you open one,” she says. Detailing more on the criteria that needs to be addressed through legislation on early childhood education she noted “before opening a preschool we need to have points from a national gov- erning body. Then that governing body needs to come into the place to see if the criteria are met before the institution is opened. Regular monitoring needs to be done. I remember when I opened my preschool I was looking to register with a network and a lady came in from the government and passed the school in all areas, however failed me cause I did not have a shrine room. For me, I didn’t think it was important as long as you respect all religions and beliefs.”
She further noted that “more importance should be placed on quality of staff, environment suitability, cleanliness/hygiene, ratio between child and teacher.” Fernando also spoke of how the mushrooming of Montessories and pre-schools affect the standard of early childhood education. “It affects the standard of childhood education very much because no structure is being followed. There is no national curriculum. Everyone is doing their own thing and teaching methods vary. The most important years of a child’s life are their pres-chool years. Their foundation needs to be solid and if you don’t have that, they could run into difficulties later on.” Her elucidation of the inner workings of the system, underscores the important role that authorities have to play in regularly monitoring the functions of preschools. “My pre-school has been in operation for four years now, and no one has come to monitor the functioning of the school. I wish someone comes to monitor our activities. If the relevant authorities paid attention to the development of early childhood education more, they would monitor the pre-schools more and not allow the mushrooming of it to happen,” she says.
In Fernando’s opinion the teacher/child ratio, cleanliness of the school, indoor and outdoor facilities, professionally qualified staff, curriculum, and inclusion of both languages – Sinhala and English and affordability are some of the basic necessities that need to be considered by parents when enrolling a child to a pre-school. She also added that when choosing an appropriate programme for the child aspects like the characteristics of the child, the program and the preschool staff; as well as the preschool's physical environment should be taken into account.
A former staff member at a Montessori and daycare Ayesha Mohamed* said “children are subjected to abuse by some caregivers and maids. In some instances caregivers are given to handle more children than they can, which means that they can’t pay proper attention to each child’s individual needs. Sometimes even the food they serve at daycares is not up to standard. I think parents have to be more aware of what’s happening in the Montessori or pre-school they send their child to. Most of the time, parents fall for the Montessori’s reputation or colourful exterior but are not aware of how it’s being run or how the children are treated by the teachers and directress.”
Mayuri Jayasinghe, a parent of a pre-school son said “As a parent, when putting a child in an early learning establishment my overall concern is for their safety and welfare. I would expect the teachers involved to have security checks done on them and be in the capacity to teach small children. There should be the required number of teacher to student ratio so that each child is given the due attention they deserve. Also the school should have a security and safety policy and parents should be made aware of this. Even though the curriculum taught is important, for me at this stage my child's safety is more prevalent in my mind.”
Karmini Munasinghe, a mother of two said that she admitted her children to a pre-school that was recommended by her neighbour. “Having known my neighbour for years I did not question the standards of the nursery. I was informed that I should find out the qualifications of the teachers at the institution but I did not see the need to as the standards seemed of a relatively better quality and was in the vicinity of my home.”
Early childhood development comes under the purview of the Children’s Secretariat headed by the Ministry of Child Development and Women's Empowerment. Children’s Secretariat Deputy Director Jayantha Perera says pre-school education is a devolved subject which according to the terms of the 13th amendment, 1979 states that the registration and implementation of pre-schools is permitted by the Provincial Council. However seeing that the Children’s Secretariat functions as the focal point for Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), other matters pertaining to pre-school education such as policy development, national level programme development and coordination and monitoring are managed by the Secretariat.
Many do not know the distinction between a Montessori, nursery and day-care centre which only have small dissimilarities. A Montessori involves chiefly using teaching tools for the preparation of children for entrance into primary education, while preschool/nursery essentially involves a curriculum of 10% desk work and 90% play. Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) had defined early childhood as the age bracket between 0 to 8 years Sri Lanka had still only identified the group up to 5 years. In Sri Lanka the accepted teacher/student ratio for a preschool is 20 although in many other countries it varies from 10 to 15 which is far more acceptable as it allows the teacher to give individual attention to each child. However in some areas such as Monaragala, Jaffna, Ampara there is no preschool education.
As far as the authorities know, there are some 16,000 pre-schools in the country and out of that number less than 50% are registered with their respective Provincial Councils. The rest are functioning, while still awaiting Provincial Council registration. For instance there are 1890 pre-schools in the Wayamba Province but less than 50 are registered with the provincial authorities. Although this is not permitted, Perera says the authorities cannot do anything about it. “The registration process for many of these preschools has been prolonged and is taking place at a very slow pace, the reason for this being that they do not have the resources to follow the guidelines for child development centres. For instance when we request to fix a toilet they do not follow what we say because they cannot meet these needs” he said.
There are only 100 divisional officers specialising in ECCD who are available in the country to monitor pre-schools countrywide. Owing to the scarcity of officers for supervising purposes, it takes a minimum of three months for the officers to monitor each school. In addition to that the pre-schools are also partially monitored by other Divisional Secretariat partners. Therefore it is uncertain as to the children’s safety in the schools.
Perera says their hands are tied. Neither the Children’s Secretariat, the very institution that manages ECCD in Sri Lanka, nor the Provincial Councils have the authority to take action against unauthorised pre-schools as there is no provision in the legal system for such an action. The “Early Childhood Development Act” which was expected to be implemented, one and a half years ago is still pending at the Legal Draftsman’s Office.
“We received a call from a lady who wanted to remove a tenant from her home who had taken up pre-school l essons which lacked the necessary standards. Since we don’t have the powers to do anything we asked her to make a police compliant instead,” he said.
According to the Children’s Secretariat if one wishes to make a complaint regarding abuse in a pre-school, a complaint could be made to the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) hotline 1929. To make a complaint on an administrative issue in a pre-school, call the respective Provincial Coordinator. Perera said if a petition is forwarded to the Children’s Secretariat, it is referred to the Provincial Coordinator and the respective Divisional Secretary.
“There is some uncertainty about what goes on in some pre-schools. You don’t know what’s happening to the children. We urge parents to be more aware of their child’s pre-school education, to find out their teachers’ qualifications, the standard of education and other necessary information. We find that some parents don’t check these important facts.” Perera explained that a child’s mind has developed rapidly to about 80% by the time they begin pre-school and therefore the most significant years are those spent at home. He said it is at this time that they develop their intellectual habits, language skills, social and moral habits and adjust to the environment.
“Parents have no understanding about the importance of home based activities. There are some parents who give tuition lessons to their pre-school kids with the belief that it is good for them. A small child’s mind could only hold a certain capacity of information. The child of such a young age does not require lessons but instead to be exposed to their surroundings in order to adjust to social life and gain a better knowledge of what is happening around them.”
Early Childhood Education is a vital part of nation building and the system needs to be regulated with precision. Legislation and coordination between monitoring authorities need to be established in order to ensure the safety of young children and the quality of the education they receive during their developmental years.