Monday 23rd September 2019

 I was up very early this morning, ensuring I was ready to be picked up at 08:30 for the trip to the Maskeliya School, where I will be working for the week. We stopped off on the way at the Palmerston School on the Palmerston Tea Estate (see photos below). This is their newest venture. Maskeliya opened in 2010, Nuwara Eliya in 2016 and Palmerston opened only this month! It only has two classes and it has the feel of a little village school, with beautiful outlooks. It is a very important new venture for Tea Leaf Vision, as they were approached by the government to set the school up because of their proven track record at Maskeliya. The target they have been set this year is to see 40 students graduate from their programme and they currently have 46 students, with more due to enrol, so they should hit that target comfortably. If they do, it then puts the organisation in a great position to develop schools across the region.

The drive from Palmerston, through Hatton and then on to Maskeliya was quite breath-taking, with stunning lakes surrounded by the green forested hillsides. We were in a hurry to get to the school, otherwise we would have stopped to take in some of the views. On arriving at Maskeliya School, I was immediately struck by the beautiful position it stands in, with some splendid views across the hills. It is probably twice the size of the Nuwara Eliya School. I received a very friendly welcome from everyone, and was shown round by Kumaravel Dayaneethibabu (Daya) and Kevin, one of the students. 

After a quick lunch, after I had a meeting with Chandrasegaran Thiyagaroj (Chan), the Acting Principal, where we discussed the work of the school and he identified each member of staff and their key roles. 

I left school quite early to settle into my accommodation for the next four days and it was pouring with rain, so I couldn’t really venture out for an explore. I had a delicious curry supper and then a very early night!





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