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The GTZ-BECAre implemented the following
activities in Vavuniya on a pilot basis in 2001. The school selected for the
purpose was V/Poonthoddam GTMS. 65 children were selected through a
placement test and psychosocial test.
Catch up Programme
With the skills and experience gained at the piloting period of the
Catch up Programme in Vavuniya in 2001, the BECAre extended the programme to
15 more schools including a Sinhala medium school in the Vavuniya North and
Vavuniya South Education Zones.
800 children who met the following selection criteria were selected for the
programme.
• Affected and displaced children
• Children who missed education for a considerable period of time.
• Children over-aged for their grades.
• Children who lost their parents.
• Children with low achievement.
The Primary ADEE and ISAA from the Department of Education were involved in
regular supervision, monitoring and reporting.
Trainers’ Manual for Training of Teachers of Special Classes
It was developed in a five day workshop at the National Institute of
Education (NIE), Maharagama by the resource persons from the GTZ units of
BECAre, VERP and TIP-NEP and Primary Education Officers and Senior Primary
Teachers from the Zonal Education Offices in Vavuniya with the assistance of
GTZ-MDTU and the Primary Mathematics Unit of NIE. BECAre has also prepared
worksheets for children in “Catch-up” programme for Language and Mathematics
both in Tamil and Sinhala.
Under the Catch-up programme 800 children in 2002 and 670 were catered in
2003. In 2004, 800 children in Vavuniya North and Vavuniya South zones are
being catered. Teachers in the Vanni region and Vavuniya have been specially
trained for the purpose of conducting these classes. These teachers were
given special training as Befrienders. It should be mentioned that World
Food Programme assisted the children in Catch-up programme by feeding them.
The programme has been conducted in the 16 selected schools both Sinhala and
Tamil in the Vavuniya North and South zones as an after school programme for
two hours per day and three days in a week.
Psychosocial Activities
Purpose: To improve basic education of affected children through special
emphasis on psychosocial support.
1. The Mid Term Review Mission that visited Vavuniya in February – March
2002 had recommended the following:
• School -based programme instead of centre-based.
• Diagnostic improvements should be done.
• Train at least 150 Counsellors and 1000 Befrienders in all the 24 NEP
Education Zones.
2. The survey carried out by the Vivo team in 2002 confirmed our earlier
findings and reported as follows:
• More than 90% of the children surveyed experienced traumatic events.
• 57% of children reported that the experiences and symptoms resulting from
them interfered with their life with social withdrawal problems,
difficulties in leading a normal life and problems in school performance.
• 25-30% of children had PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) symptoms.
Manual Preparation
BECAre has developed the following manuals to cater the training needs
of the project:
1. Joyful Living
This is a trainers’ manual for training of Befrienders and was developed
in Tamil through a co-operative effort of resource persons from “Shanthiham”,
Jaffna, BECAre personnel and GTZ-TIP-NEP in three workshops and refined
subsequently after trial runs. Now, it has been translated into English and
Sinhala and printed.
2. Child Mental Health
This is a trainers’ manual developed by experts of the University of
Jaffan and the resource persons at Shanthiham under the guidance and
expertise of Prof. Daya Somasundaram. It was developed in Tamil and later
translated into Sinhala and English. Now it is available for use.
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