Abstract:
Notion of the early childhood as the period of most rapid human growth with greatest
sensitivity to environmental influences during the first four or five years of life is widely
acclaimed. It has also been considered as a critical period in the human development.
Presently, early childhood care and education in Sri Lanka seem to be carried out more
or less as a small business or charity to those in need of it. Multiplicity of early childhood
educational agencies, which provide an uneven distribution of facilities of early childhood
care and education seem to be in need of supervision and monitoring. Moreover,
individuals engaged in providing early childhood education seem to have in general
limited skills, inadequate training, remuneration and prestige.
Government of Sri Lanka has not been enthusiastic about shouldering the responsibility
of early childhood care and education. The national education systems recognize the
child from the age of 5 years. As a result, social, cognitive and emotional needs of
young children during this significant period, which are considered as critical, and
contributing to the overall development seem to be neglected. Though several policy
implications and national plan of actions seem to have repeatedly stress the importance
of early childhood care and development, to date a comprehensive policy and an action
plan which recognize the significance of preschool education remain absent. The paper
advocates the need for design, evaluate and implement effectual early childhood
education programmes.
In this paper, existing policy reports and national survey carried out during the past
twenty years are reviewed in an effort to define best practices in early childhood
education and to outline future directions for the field. The importance of identification
and registration of early childhood educational institutions, minimum qualifications and
training for preschool teachers, utilizing culturally sensitive practices and outcome
measures, and providing empirical support to document efficacy of programmes are
discussed in detail. In addition, policy implications and the potential key role that
preschool teachers and parents could play in the challenge to provide an effective early
childhood education are highlighted.
