A new school building from World Vision
World Vision Lanka recently handed over a new school building to the students of N/H/Moussakelle No.1 Tamil School. This project was implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Education of the Central Provincial Council.
First constructed in 1979, the school had insufficient space for the growing number of students and academic activities. A building provided by the Swedish International Development Organization (SIDA) in 2003 was used for several purposes. It was the Principal’s office, IT laboratory, and small auditorium. The rest of the available space was used for six classrooms accommodating160 students.
“It was very difficult for both teachers and students with the lack of space. All six teachers were in the common hall teaching six different subjects at the same time,” says Mrs. S.Susiladevi, Principal of Moussakelle No. 1 Tamil Vidyalam. “The students could not concentrate on their lessons because of the noise from the other classes or space for any group work. The children’s performance was severely affected.”
When World Vision’s Ambagamuwa Area Development Programme was approached for assistance, help was on the way. A brand new building of 1250 sqft was constructed at a cost of 4 million rupees. The building houses three classrooms for grades 3 to 5 and 84 students are currently using the building.
The evaluation, design and technical supervision for the building construction were carried out by the Ministry of Education of the Central Province.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, World Vision Lanka National Director Suresh Bartlett said, “When World Vision transits from the Ambagamuwa area after 19 years, I hope our programmes have ensured the wellbeing of all children through our interventions in education, economic development, health and nutrition, water and sanitation and livelihood development. I believe that the community of Ambagamuwa is now empowered to continue and sustain this development and all the progress made together over these many years.”