Starter Kit. Idea 379 of 500. Cluster 18
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.
The 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.
Ask first
- Department of Cultural Affairs. Ask whether graded teaching material in Sinhala and Tamil already exists to build on.
Check before you spend
That you own or have permission for every text in the curriculum, and a clear licence agreement each school signs before using it.
Find out these three numbers
- What do Saturday schools lack most: curriculum, books or tests?
- What licence fee will a school pay per term?
- How many Saturday schools are there in one city?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.