Page 31 - Hemas_Piyawara_Book

The morning routine at the Jaffna Preschool begins with light exercises including yoga. The Piyawara preschool play areas are treasure-troves of ‘lessons’.
Then a human train puffs its way around the garden, with much laughter but with a
few weepy ones rubbing their eyes sadly. Sellam kade (mock boutique)
Here the little ones play games that involve counting, adding and subtracting;
Kumararasa Sutharsan, now 28 years old, employed as a Development Officer of the comparing different groups of items; observing different shapes and sizes; getting
Mantai West Divisional Secretariat of the Mannar district, talks of his childhood when an idea about weighing and measuring; and interacting with others. Linked to this
the preschool he attended was a far cry from the Pillai Kaniyamutham Preschool. activity would be the annual pola (fair).

He and his brother attended the ‘garage preschool’ in 1998-99 along with nearly 90 Sellam gedara (play house)
children, says Sutharsan whose father is a plumber and mother a housewife. It was Imagination which fosters cognitive and social development, is given free rein here,
a very small rented room with grease-smeared walls situated on an incline. Facilities while allowing the children to observe and connect with nature and encouraging
were nil and the garden was the toilet. curiosity and honing their problem-solving skills.
Many activities such as making koom pittu with a mix of sand and water, getting
Looking at the large area where the children are at play now, Sutharsan marvels at the
transformation. into the sand pit, nurturing plants or looking at the birds and squirrels develop the
children’s power of observation. Playing with sand and water is important for sensory
It is learning through imitation, observation, repetition and reinforcement development while also strengthening fine motor skills and moulding wet sand into
in an environment of love and care to bring about security. In this period of 3 different shapes enhances creativity.
to 5 years of age of a child, the focus should ideally be on mental and physical
development, going hand in hand. The key areas of development are – physical,
motor skills (gross/fine), cognitive ability to think and reason, emotional, social
and language. A vital part of early or preschool education is not reading and
writing but basic life skills, pre-writing and pre-math concepts.
While gross motor skills are needed for generalized movements such as sitting,
standing, walking, running, jumping, balancing, stretching, kicking and crawling;
fine motor skills involving small muscles are more specialized such as hand-eye
coordination and would include writing and picking up objects.

Crossing the hellena palama (swinging bridge) helps the development of the gross
motor skill of balancing. Pasting parippu ata (lentil grains) or tearing/cutting up pieces
of paper with a pair of scissors, develops fine motor skills which improve pre-writing
skills and later enable a child to hold a pencil for writing.

Pre-math skills, meanwhile, are instilled in preschoolers by counting objects,
sequencing of numbers and differentiation of bigger and smaller shapes.

Mr. Husein Esufally (on the left) ready to join a perahera at the opening of the Kurunegala Preschool in 2003.

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