Updated 4 January 2012
Sri Lanka has a literacy rate of 94.2%, state education is free and the educational system is very competitive. However after the tsunami of 2005, The World Federation discovered that the poorest communities in Sri Lanka were struggling to cope with the increasing competitiveness in the Educational system.
In Sri Lanka teachers at public schools augment their income by providing private tutoring to their students. Students whose parents cannot afford the tutoring find it difficult to succeed in the classroom and face a mounting burden of pressure to follow an academic career path.
The head of the ZCSS program in Sri Lanka said, “Where teaching is concerned, some teachers do not teach properly. They ask the students to attend the tuition classes that they conduct. These poor students have no other alternative but to attend these tuition classes, if they do not do so, they are unable to obtain good marks at the examinations.”
In Sri Lanka children at the tentative age of 9 or 10 sit scholarship exams to determine if they are eligible for a place at a prominent national school. The scholarship exams, and the national exams have created a very lucrative ‘Private Tuition’ industry that many teachers take advantage of, and one that the government has failed to regulate.
Experts commenting on the Sri Lankan education system often regard private tuition to be a quintessential part of growing up in Sri Lanka. After the tsunami, The World Federation was made aware of a community of people in Sri Lanka who couldn’t afford to send their children to the tuition classes. This highlighted the plight of the poorest communities in Sri Lanka who couldn’t afford the high costs of tuition. Therefore helping these communities with their educational requirements was quintessential to breaking the cycle of poverty.
The Head of the ZCSS program in Sri Lanka said, “This is where we come in, we provide the students the funds to attend these tuition classes, since their parents are not in a position to send them for tuition classes. Most of the bread winners are poorly paid workers, whose income is barely sufficient to even provide a square meal a day for their families. Therefore, this monthly sum enables them to attend these tuition classes and also affords them the opportunity of obtaining good marks at the examinations.”
Since 2005, ZCSS is continuing to help 150 students in Sri Lanka with educational support, so that they can achieve the best possible results. In 2012, we see the first students to have completed their school education, and tuition with the support of ZCSS. They would have never dreamed to compete with Sri Lanka’s rich and educational elite, however with a sponsorship of £10 a month, their dreams become a reality.
Shan-E-Abbas Hassam, The Secretary General of The World Federation said, “In Sri Lanka all we did was listen to the local people. They had all the answers, we just funded their initiatives and with the grace of Almighty Allah (SWT) that yielded success. We hope the community will continue to support the people of Sri Lanka with their generous donations toward ZCSS.”
Zainabiya Child Sponsorship Scheme hopes to continue to sponsor more students in Sri Lanka towards educational excellence. To sponsor a child in Sri Lanka please write to zcss@world-federation.org or donate online. Alternatively if you would like to know more about ZCSS, please email us to send you a complete brochure about the scheme.