INCLSIVE EARLY CHILHOOD CARE, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION” (IECCDE) – Project 01

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The World Bank, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNESCO (1999,2000) have all stressed on the importance of Early Childhood Development (ECD) in improving physical and psycho-social wellbeing in promoting cognitive gains in young children, as well as directly or indirectly combating poverty. Sri Lanka has a long history of attempts to provide education for all its citizens. Though early childhood care and development and education are considered vital in human capital development, there is limited attention towards Early Childhood Care, Development (ECCD) and education of children who are in age 3-5 years and children below the age of 3 years have been completely neglected. The government of Sri Lanka has not been fervent about shouldering the total responsibility of ECCD due to the economic crisis that barricades the government’s assistance to the ECCD. A recent study presents a profile of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Sri Lanka by Pathirana (2017b), indicates that only a few preschools follow a child-centred activity-based curriculum endorsed by ECCE experts. It further presents that many preschools in Sri Lanka were reported to teach the Curricula taught in primary schools. When compared to middle-income countries, the government of Sri Lanka spends a very negligible amount on ECCDE. Among middle-income countries, the average public expenditure on ECE (as a percentage of GDP) is 0..003% Sri Lanka's current spending on ECE, at less than 0.0001% of its GDP, is negligible. That is the lowest among middle and high-income countries. The budget allocation for ECCDE in 2012 was LKR 19 mn, 0.008% of the national budget. Under these circumstances outside assistance for the people has been needed ever before. Therefore, we planned to establish an Inclusive Early Childhood Care Development and Education Centre ensuring access for about 200 children. We plan to acquire land of 2 hectares to construct buildings for the school, hostels, staff quarters, playgrounds, workshops for vocational training and an agricultural farm. The centre will be developed as an IECCDE centre in two phases as mentioned below.