Idea 379 of 500. Cluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
Tamil and Sinhala Saturday schools abroad, franchised, with a curriculum that a child can pass
The mechanism, from the book
1.5 million people abroad who know how rich countries work, and who send home money and little else.
Every idea in cluster 18 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Take one existing Tamil or Sinhala Saturday school abroad and ask the head teacher what they lack: a graded curriculum, books or a test a child can pass. Write the first term's lessons for one level and offer them to that school for a small licence fee. If the school pays and a second school asks for it, the franchise works.
- Who pays first
- A Saturday school abroad run by volunteers who want a ready curriculum and a test, and whose parents will pay for a certificate.
- What leaves today
- The languages fade with each generation abroad; a curriculum written and sold from home keeps them alive and earns from Sri Lankans abroad.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. EightWhat It Costs to Go First
What bonds sold to Sri Lankans abroad have and have not done - Ch. SixteenThe Bridge
The institutions that could carry value back
More from cluster 18
- 361A directory of Sri Lankans abroad: who does what, where, and what they will help with, verified
- 362Return-relocation services: the school, the house, the car, the tax, in one package
- 363Sri Lanka House in London, Melbourne and Toronto: a shop, a café and a desk, the Colombo model abroad
- 364Money-transfer products that buy a specific thing at home, a course, a machine, a roof, rather than cash
- 365Investment clubs of Sri Lankans abroad that own one business each at home, with a manager on the ground
- 366Import agencies in each city with a Sri Lankan community, stocking Sri Lankan brands and nothing else
Idea 379 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.