Projects

Tittagalla School completed

Senahasa has built a new classroom block and refurbished a damaged building at Tittagalla School – our third school in the Galle District. Tittagalla East is a small rural community 16km from Galle. Many of the fishermen and their families were affected by the Tsunami, having lost their homes and livelihoods.

New building opened in October 2006	Children dancing in the procession at the opening ceremony

Lessons outside	The old building at Tittagalls now repaired and refurbished

Tittagalla has 110 children from aged between 6 – 13 years old. Classrooms were overcrowded and makeshift: many were not partitioned but held up to four classes simultaneously, making it very difficult for the children to concentrate. A new housing project has also been located next to the school, bringing garment factory workers and their families to the area. This in turn will bring additional children to the school. New facilities were desperately needed.

Senahasa has already built a pre-school for the community and now the focus is on the older children. Once they reached 13, they previously had no choice but to leave school. But with its additional classrooms, Tittagalla School can now offer Grade 9 classes for 14 year olds too. We hope the school will be able to offer classes up to Sri Lankan ‘O’ level in the coming years.

At the opening ceremony, children dressed in traditional costumes led the procession. There were many speeches from local dignitaries and a feast of simple, local specialities. It was a wonderful day.

The school is now making good use of its new facilities, and Senahasa plans to continue its support in the long term. We placed John Hodgson, a gap-year student there last year. John lived with the deputy Headmaster and his family and took English classes. He was very popular with the children and helped boost their confidence in using English.

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Children in their new classrooms	An experiment during science class