The Hon. Namal Sudarshana - Deputy Minister of Women and Child Affairs

¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Member. Mr. Speaker, we acknowledge great disparities across preschools/ECD centres. Most are run and maintained by the private sector; there are very few preschools directly operated by the State, mainly via local authorities and Provincial Councils, or by NGOs and religious bodies. At present, there are 17,152 registered preschools; additionally, due to certain issues, there are also unregistered ones.

¶ 02 While we do not currently have the capacity to provide resources to all preschools, we are discussing how to intervene going forward. For regulation, the Ministry is implementing special programs.

¶ 03 In particular, we have begun registering all diploma-granting institutions that train preschool teachers, and once registration is complete, we will regulate them under an established framework. ECD Officers attached to our Ministry and relevant officers via Provincial Councils support this regulatory process.

¶ 04 We are preparing a national subject framework and guidelines to minimize disparities in curricula. In parallel, by regulating diploma institutions that produce teachers, we aim to standardize teacher competencies. We also intervene in preschool children’s nutrition through a morning meal, and we are addressing a teacher honorarium. However, we do not presently have the means to equalize physical resources across all preschools, though that remains a goal.