Education for children in one of the poorest village in Sri Lanka (Mathurankernikulam)

Education in Sri Lanka is normally free and accessible to all. In reality children in rural and poor communities receive unequal education. They have to make do with poorly run and inadequately staffed and equipped schools which ensures that they never have the same educational opportunities as others.

Church of the American Ceylon Mission - CACM works to address

Inequity in education by running after school programs for children and youth in poor communities.

Children receive extra classes to make up for the shortcomings of their schools and to enable them to do well in their exams.

Key Aims: to develop a more holistic and creative educational program at these centres by integrating the arts into the learning process of the children from a young age.

Mathurankernikulam is a small isolated village in the Vaharai region of the Batticaloa district probably one of the poorest areas in the country. It was an area that experienced some of the worst of the war years. It was one of the first areas where children were conscripted, and the community were deeply impacted by the governments attempt to retake the area and the region still has a strong military presence. The community at Mathurankernikulam are agricultural labourers, and also earn some of their living from reservoir fishing and forest products. Many of them are descendants of Veddah communities. The educational needs of the community are very high and till now no student has passed their OL exams and be able to proceed to AL studies. CACM has supported an after school program for the last several years and there are promising signs that the first students will pass their OL exams this year, and is, therefore, looking for funding to continue the program. centres.