The Rose Educational Academy Pvt Ltd, Sri Lanka’s first non-profit international school, announced a successful one year in operation last week. “We started this school because in our country, parents place very high emphasis on education. But although we have around 9,700 schools in the country many are not able to meet parental aspirations for their children,” said the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the school, Eran Wickramaratne.
“The financially well-off find other avenues. But this is not affordable to most. That is where we stepped in with an alternative, to provide quality education,” said Mr Wickramaratne.
The Rose Educational Academy also says it is a “non-profit” venture although it is registered as an international school.
“All the Board members work voluntarily. This is not a commercial enterprise where there are profits made, and the profits are distributed among shareholders. If we do make a profit, we put it back into the school. The school does charge fees, but this is for financial sustainability of the school. We are not making a profit from the school,” said Mr Wickramaratne.
The school at present has classes up to Grade 6, but the grades will increase each year, to accommodate students moving up into higher grades.
The curriculum is the local-school curriculum, taught in English. But the school will also provide a choice of studying for either the local Ordinary Levels or the London Ordinary Levels.“Right now we don’t offer this option because we don’t have students of this age. But when the existing student population gets older and moves into Grade 9, we will give them the choice of studying for either the local Ordinary Levels or London Ordinary Levels,” said Mr Wickramaratne.
The school says its curriculum complies with Ministry of Education requirements and even goes beyond it. “Our aim is to offer a holistic educational experience, paying attention not only to the intellect of a child but also the physical, emotional and creative development of a child. We are also aware of the utmost importance of instilling moral values in children,” said the Principal of the Rose Educational Academy, Priyani Fernando.
As part of its holistic educational approach, the school provides computer education from Grade 1. The curriculum also includes speech and drama, music and singing, dancing, physical and health education and general knowledge. In the area of academic subjects, the school says it places special emphasis on developing competencies in core subjects like English, Sinhala and Tamil, mathematics, science and environmental studies and religion.
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