Residents' cash helps pre-school

Children enjoy the pre-school

GENEROUS Bognor Regis residents have helped to ensure a good start in life for young children in Sri Lanka.

Bognor Hotham Rotary Club has donated enough money, thanks to the donations of individuals from the town among others, to ensure a pre-school on the island can continue.

The club has given £1,500 to employ two teachers for a year at the Gulugahakanda Kekulu Pre-School on Sri Lanka.

It has also provided most of the £700 needed to feed its 25 children. Help with school uniforms and other resources is also provided when parents are unable to afford them.

The Rotarians were told about the pre-school by Chichester charity Extra Cover. This is devoted to improving education on Sri Lanka.

It came across the pre-school and contacted the Rotary club to find out if its members could help.

Club press officer Brian Clarke said: "Up to that point, the pre-school had been helped by an Australian sponsor but, for personal reasons, financial support had now stopped.

"The teachers had tried to collect money from the parents but it was nowhere near enough as many of the children came from very poor families."

The partnership in Sri Lanka between Extra Cover and the Rotary club dates back nearly three years.

They sponsored a three-wheel tuk tuk to help to transport disabled children and young adults to school and to a vocational training school in Panangala.

None of them had the chance to be educated because their homes were isolated. There are two tuk tuks, with 15 children at the school and 25 young adults on various days at the training centre.