The Hon. (Mrs.) Saroja Savithri Paulraj - Minister of Women and Child Affairs

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, it is a valuable question. In Sri Lanka, even by name, institutions differ — day-care centres, pre-schools, early childhood development centres, etc.

¶ 02 Regulation of early childhood is with the National Child Protection Authority; its registration and supervision are assigned to Provincial Departments of Social Services. Pre-schools are regulated by Provincial Pre-school Units/Authorities. ECD centres are also supervised by the National Secretariat for Early Childhood Development.

¶ 03 As the Hon. Member noted, with regard to standards, especially educational qualifications of administrators and other regulatory processes such as diplomas, we must reach clarity and uniformity. This is not only structural; we must also decide where to anchor it within the national education system. To best serve the child, and in line with new directions in education, we should, in the period ahead, formalize this further — including a new programme to nurture empathetic children with soft skills and maximum creativity; introducing a standardized diploma; and a regulatory process to bring currently serving pre-school teachers to that standard. We will commence that regulatory programme.