Empowering Education For A Brighter Future Through A Movement Of Leaders

The current reality of Education in Sri Lanka is one that has consistently been highlighted in the news as one that is bleak for years. The key issues are that we have not changed how we educate children and our education system has an over-dependence on exams as a metric of success. Schools do not groom children to acquire skills that contemporary businesses and organizations need. Even more so is the ever-widening gap of educational inequity that we see where there is a huge lack of good teachers in rural schools and many children dropping out of school.

On the other hand, we have on average approximately 32,000 university graduates from 15 state universities. We have over 100,000 unemployed graduates, which contributes to a growing unemployment rate (over 5.5%). Teaching has been and is still a profession that a majority of women choose. Yet, 60 to 68% of our university graduates are women and we have only a 37% labour force participation of women. The question is why aren’t we able to get our own young people to fill the gap of teacher shortages in our public schools?

We constantly talk about the urgent need to groom local talent to support our economic growth. But we rarely have the flexibility in our public systems to introduce impactful change. Therefore, as a nation, we need to ask ourselves if we should continue to wait for change, or actively contribute to the change we want to see. Because the survival of our country's economy is dependent on having a strong, productive and happy workforce.

Our Mission

At Teach First Sri Lanka believe that we cannot wait for change. We just have to find a way to actively contribute to achieving change. We cannot do it alone, so we will create a movement of young leaders that will collectively lobby with communities, organisations, and people to transform and improve our education system through Collective Leadership.

At Teach First Sri Lanka, we look forward to implementing a fellowship model where we recruit diverse young graduates with the potential to lead, from a range of experiences and academic disciplines. We will train them for a period of 6 weeks before they start teaching and then place them in underprivileged schools (that very often have a deficit of good teachers) to help children obtain an education that they otherwise may not have had.

We do not stop there… We coach our fellows over a two-year period to ensure they meet their objectives as effective teachers and create social impact that improves the life outcomes of the children, they work with. A key part of our objective is to build an Alumni Network committed to transforming and improving the education system in Sri Lanka in the long run while drawing from their experience in the schools they served during the fellowship. They exercise Collective Leadership within our network to create systemic change and solutions to problems that are deeply entrenched in our education system.

We believe in this model because it has worked globally in more than 60 countries including Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Across the network of fellowships, there are more than 88,000 alumni with 15,000 teachers all a part of the Teach For All Network, which we hope to be a part of in the future. Sri Lanka is not so different, if it has worked and created an impact in 60 other countries and has helped reduce educational inequity through leadership, we have the potential to create the same reality here in our own country.

Our Fellowship Program

We want our fellows to be agents of change where they are not only effective teachers but also demonstrate leadership that will support the school culture and execute solutions that ensure that our children's ecosystem is improved so that they have a better chance at succeeding. Therefore our fellowship is founded on three key pillars to ensure that this is achieved.

1. Effective Teaching

2. Personal Leadership Development

3. Movement & Mission

You can find out what this really means by reading our Teach First Sri Lanka Report 2023.

Our Fellowship Program focuses on introducing change in how teachers teach children. We believe in the need for holistic education that holds Socio-emotional learning, critical thinking, literacy & numeracy and encourages children to have a growth mindset at its core. We believe that our fellows would find ways to ensure that they are empathetic to the student’s needs and that they learn in an environment focused on their needs using the skills that we teach them. We will ensure that our schools are in good hands.

Where do we start?

We are working with Child Action Lanka (CAL) to conduct a 1-year pilot fellowship program and we have chosen to start in 5 schools from the Eravupaththu division in the Batticaloa West Education Zone. We will place 3 fellows in each school to fill the deficit of teachers in Science, Math, English and IT in middle school (Grades 6 to 9). Once we have completed the 1-year pilot program, we are committed to following in the footsteps of the Teach For All network and forming a fellowship that is in line with their unifying principals.

We have chosen Batticaloa because we have spent a lot of time evaluating the situation and conducted a Situational Analysis that compared two rural locations in Sri Lanka. Batticaloa is a district with many rural communities and is a district with one of the highest dropout rates in the country. They also face consistent teacher shortages. (Please Read this article which gives a clear explanation of the context in rural Batticaloa communities: Link)

While this was important for our decision, Batticaloa is the place to start because more than all else, there is hope in Batticaloa!

The Batticaloa West Zonal Education Team is a proactive group of individuals that genuinely care about doing all they can to get things done and support their schools to do better. Furthermore, they made us believe that change is possible through their leadership. Again, there is a vibrant network of support that can be activated to create change in these schools that springs from the young people that are passionate about social justice, universities, and other organizations that are keen on supporting children in rural schools if they are given the chance. We have a network of supporters that are helping us achieve the mission we are setting out to achieve. Have a look at our Network of Support.

Child Action Lanka has a Centre in close proximity to the schools that we have chosen to work with, and we will be collaborating to work together to offer the support that our fellows will need to be effective in their fellowship.

This picture was taken at the Batticaloa West Zonal Education Office.

From left to right: Mr Kugathasan (Deputy Director of Education), Jeremy De Zilwa (CEO - TFSL), Lilani Munasinghe (Founding Director- TFSL), Ms Ahila Canagasooriyam (Zonal Director of Education), Charith Abeyratne (Director- TFSL), David Boehm (Founding Director & Board Chair- TFSL).

Discover Teach First Sri Lanka

We are excited to announce the launch of our new website, www.teachfirst.lk, which serves as a hub of information, resources, and opportunities to join us in our mission of creating a more inclusive and equitable education system in Sri Lanka. Our website is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of Teach First Sri Lanka's vision, initiatives, and impact. As you navigate through the site, you'll find detailed information about our mission, core values, and the fellowship program that we offer to improve educational outcomes for students across Sri Lanka.

We are a not-for-profit organization, but we are not a charity! We are giving communities the fishing rod and not the fish! We empower young people to become leaders and create sustainable change. They will offer our children an opportunity they otherwise would not have had. A chance in life, a chance to understand the value of a good education, a chance to put in the hard work and succeed. Join the Community of Support

We invite you to join our Google Community of Support, an online platform where educators, volunteers, and supporters come together to exchange ideas, share experiences, and collaborate on projects. By joining this community, you'll have the opportunity to stay informed about what we are doing and connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about education and are actively working towards its transformation in Sri Lanka.

To join, simply visit https://groups.google.com/g/community-of-support and become a part of this dynamic network. We want you to join our mission to transform education in Sri Lanka. We will be having regular discussions, where we give you the opportunity to speak one on one with our stakeholders of change-makers and be a part of the discussion on changing education in Sri Lanka. On the 19th of June 2023, we will be conducting a Community Discussion. On this Zoom Call, you will get to meet different stakeholders that support TFSL. So please join us and stay informed! Get Involved

Teach First Sri Lanka welcomes individuals passionate about education and eager to make a positive impact. Whether you are an educator, a student, a parent, or a concerned citizen, there are various ways to get involved. From volunteering opportunities to mentorship programs, you can contribute your time, skills, and expertise to empower education and support the growth of students and teachers alike. Please reach out to us if you would like to be a part of our cause.

We could not have come this far without them

Building an organization and finding our identity has been a challenging one. We haven’t been able to do it alone. I thank David and Lily our founding directors for standing in our corner and doing whatever it took to get to this stage. I will need to write another blog article to explain how they have gone above and beyond. Also thank you to the rest of the board.

Furthermore, without Deb and Dilshan from CAL having introduced us to Batticaloa and allowing me to work and stay at the Centre we probably would not have found ourselves here today. Also a huge thank you to the ever-hospitable team at the Batticaloa CAL Centre.

We also thank Charith, who is a Teach First Alum and he truly believes in our vision and has taken the time to regularly contribute to key parts of our development. We also thank Sherangi for helping us find our brand identity and effectively communicate who we are! You have been extremely patient and passionate which I appreciate and respect.

More than all else, there are so many people to thank from Batticaloa that have helped me. We have been tremendously fortunate enough to find people with the right energy and appetite for change.

As a core value, we must collectively work with communities, organizations, and people to achieve systemic change. We are constantly looking for people to work with and join us on our journey!

Sincerely,

Jeremy De Zilwa.