Page 22 - Hemas_Piyawara_Book

In areas such as Jaffna, Trincomalee and Anuradhapura, the army had lent a ready The last physical training held in Malabe had been tinged with sadness as Jayantha,
hand with the logistics, organizing that extra touch of fun-filled evenings with bonfires the father figure revered by all, who had worked 24/7 whenever the programme came
and sing-alongs, bringing about a sense of belonging, as many of the preschools in the around annually, had passed away.
northern region were built by the army.
A name that keeps cropping up though he is no more, is that of Jayantha who lived and
The training kicks off with senior ministry officials inaugurating it. The Executive breathed the subject of ECCD. He had trained the preschool teachers and been with
Director of the Hemas Outreach Foundation, Shiromi Masakorala, underscores the them in good times and bad, visiting their villages or towns using his personal funds,
close cooperation among all parties. The structure of the training programme is not only to see how they were faring.
intensive but also extensive, while the interactions forge bonds that remain long after
the courses are over. For Jayantha, the workaholic, there had been no weekends, poya days or other holidays.
Every day had been a work day on behalf of his beloved children. Even ill health such as
Each programme covers the importance of early childhood care and how very young heart bypass surgery had not kept him from this mission.
children learn through activities rather than reading or writing. With aesthetic lessons
being a must for preschool teachers, a common class would ‘mix and blend’ the teachers It had been a labour of love and even if Jayantha was given an allowance for being a
from the south and the north, as otherwise respecting language differences, lectures are resource person, those funds had been expended on ‘something’ for the children or
conducted in Sinhala for those from the south and in Tamil for those from the north. sarees for the teachers!
August 2012 is tragically etched on the minds of those involved with Piyawara. All
When most preschools promote reading and writing for their children which are
detrimental for their early development, the teachers trained under the Piyawara arrangements for the training had been in place, with teachers set to converge on
umbrella use scientific methods in imparting knowledge through activity. Newer Malabe from across the country. Two days prior to the programme, as he was unwell,
teaching techniques are built on this foundation each year. This helps the children’s Jayantha who had been admitted to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Kalubowila,
cognitive, social, emotional and speech development. had been fine-tuning the minutest details of the programme from his hospital bed.
th
The teachers had been due at Malabe at 4 p.m. on August 9 and that morning when
All Piyawara preschools have a large mural on their walls which acts as a stimulant to
the children to weave stories using their imagination, sparking creativity, an important Shiromi spoke to Jayantha on the phone, he had been upset that he would not be
development skill for this age group. Many had been moved by the positive impact on present to greet them. The dinner on the final day of training was to be at a hotel in
children, when a teacher from the Kantalai Preschool described how her little ones came Wadduwa and Jayantha’s promise had been: “I will come for the night to sing with the
up with more than 200 tales from the mural. teachers.”
It had been around 3 p.m., when Shiromi was leaving Hemas House in Colombo for
The training climaxes with a toe-tapping entertainment night organized by the teachers
who have by then become friends, taking to the stage with items of song, dance and Malabe for the inauguration of the training programme that the sad news was given to
drama. This is followed by a gala dinner sponsored by the Hemas Group to say thank you her. Jayantha was no more.
to the resource persons and for the distribution of certificates to the teachers. The training had taken place as planned but the mood had been sombre with all
wearing a black ribbon.
For 18 years, the training had continued in different districts providing a valuable
opportunity to share experiences and chat to parents in diverse areas. Since 2012, each year the training programme has a special session for Jayantha when
the participants wend their way to the nearest temple and offer a pooja to bestow
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, had put paid to physical meetings and in 2020 and
2021, the training had been through Zoom, with hopes of resumption once this public blessings on him.
health threat abates.

14 Hemas Piyawara - A Journey to the Future