Hostels
There are elementary schools in most villages. From 6th to 11th grade (Junior Secondary and Senior Secondary School) and from 12th to 13th grade (Advanced Level), lessons usually only take place in regional schools, i.e. the young people have to leave the village, as colleges are generally only available in larger towns.
As most families cannot afford these expenses, we provide hostels for girls and boys in Beragala and Kandaloya to enable children from poor families to attend secondary schools.
Hostel in Beragala
The girls’ hostel in Beragala was officially opened in 2020. Shortly afterwards, it became necessary to open a second hostel for boys. There are now (as of March 2024) 13 girls and 12 boys in the hostels.
Five caregivers and a cook run these hostels and offer family care, accommodation, meals and homework support.
In Sri Lanka, girls and boys are not allowed to be accommodated in the same building. They can have their meals together and do their homework in the same building, but afterwards the boys have to go to another building. This was a major challenge, as the two buildings were around 4 km apart. In April 2024, they were able to move into a house in the neighborhood. This is a great relief for the caregivers.
Our visit in Beragala – 2025
English lessons are taking place and are generally working well, but contrary to our agreements, neither the English teacher, our project manager Raja, nor Sister Pushpa speak English with the children during the day. Nevertheless, small progress is being made.
All schools in Sri Lanka face the same problem: the children learn English mainly in terms of grammar and writing, but hardly at all in everyday speech. Although they have good written skills, they lack practice in speaking – and therefore also the confidence to actually use English.
Pocket money for the children:
In order to familiarize the children at the children’s home in Beragala with handling money, we have introduced a pocket money system. The children are supposed to learn how to use money responsibly and budget it wisely. Depending on their age, they receive pocket money weekly or monthly. They are also supposed to keep track of this money in order to develop a sense of income and expenses.
