Hemas Outreach Foundation together with the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs held its Annual Teach Training Program for the 18^th consecutive year in Kalutara.  The three-day residential training programme was aimed at all the head teachers of Piyawara Pre-schools and the training sessions included sessions held in Sinhala and Tamil by renowned trainers around the theme preparing young children to enter primary education.

 The programme also focused on enhancing the knowledge and training of teachers on areas such as providing necessary physical and psychological skills to handle children and skills to handle children with trauma.

“Started in 2002, the Piyawara initiative makes a significant contribution to the education of children and their future. We are grateful to Hemas for helping these communities in need and for working closely with us and facilitating the improvement of our knowledge and skills. Because of their dedication and the effort that they put into ensuring the sustainability and the success of this initiative, we have come forward and taken ownership of Piyawara. The service they do to the country can’t be explained in words and want to assist them in every possible way to continue building these schools in the most rural communities in Sri Lanka,” says Binari Kokila Kumarasingha, teacher from Piyawara’ Pre-School - Polonnaruwa

“The annual teacher training program is a vital component in our Piyawara initiative, which strives to address a national need in the most rural and underserved communities in Sri Lanka. Through the programme we hope to equip the Piyawara pre-school teachers to face the changing times and understand the needs of a child better and transform their teaching methodology to make learning more interesting and meaningful for the children. Through our Piyawara initiative we take a holistic approach to early childhood care and development and we ensure that the pre-schools we build are maintained and sustained through annual teacher training and parental awareness programmes,” says  Shiromi Masakorala, Executive Director of Hemas Outreach Foundation and General Manager – Corporate Communications and Sustainability of Hemas Holdings PLC.

Initiated in 2002, the Piyawara programme was launched in partnership with the Children’s Secretariat of the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and Divisional Secretaries. The programme aims to enrich the lives of underprivileged children of Sri Lanka focusing on key aspects within the framework of early childhood care and development providing a holistic approach to pre-school education. At present there are 53  pre-schools across the country with over 150 teachers and over 3500 children attending them daily.