Continued from yesterday
Pre-schools

Professor Jayasuriya highlights the barrenness of the White Paper proposals in the area of pre-school education. He makes insightful proposals. The White Paper failed to realize the potential of this area. There were less than 150 pre-schools (Nurseries) in the 1960’s which catered to a minute urban privileged population. Four decades later, today the number of pre-schools exceeds 10,000. He predicted the future demand for pre-schools and proposed that it be met by local initiatives. The care of the preschool child was to be a function of the local bodies. He urged close collaboration between the Local Authority, Health Department and the Education Department. The multi-sectoral approach and the concept of total development and integrated development in today’s jargon was not new to him. True to his vision, today Early Childhood Care and Education is a subject devolved to the province. However the metamorphosis that takes place in a child in these foundation years and the quality of socio- emotional and cognitive exposure whether it is in a sophisticated urban preschool or in a humble rural setting needs continued scrutiny and support.

A pre-school it is said is as good as its teachers. He says ‘ the position of a pre-school teacher itself is a mission to be assumed for the benefit of young children and which demands personal gifts as well as knowledge and that success depends upon the richness of the personality as well`D6`D6.’He gives two main objectives of pre-school teacher training i.e. to secure maximum personal development of the teacher and to equip her with knowledge and professional skills. He recommends a sound theoretical basis and adequate supervised practical experience during training. The local pre-school center envisaged by him should provide for a wide range of play activities for children to participate singly in small and in large groups exploring their environment`D6`D6`D6.there would be no formal education activity, it would be yet educational in broad sense of the term`D6`D6 .

Professor Jayasuriya exemplified punctuality. His psychology lectures started at 8 a. m . on Mondays. Most of the married students who go away for the weekend and travel back on Monody morning, used to turn up a little late for this lecture. In the midst of his lecture he would greet the latecomers ‘Here comes the honeymooners’ and whole the class rocked with laughter. He was a counselor and friend. Unknown to many he tended to emotional problems of some of the adult students. Every batch of Diploma students had eligible men and women of late 20’s to 30’s. He loved to see some of them pairing for life and had an impish smile for them.

Professor Chandra Gunawardana writes glowingly of the tutelage under the Professor as an assistant lecturer and that he was a role model to his students and junior colleagues. The following anecdote illustrates this quality. As a temporary assistant lecturer in education in mid sixties I had to supervise the practical teaching of young B. Ed. students. I lacked supervisory experience as much as these undergraduates lacked teaching experience. I was very enthusiastic. To the dismay of some of these undergraduates I had over expectations of teaching competencies from them. Sensing this, the empathetic Professor responded and prevented the development of a sour situation. In such instances he joined me in supervision. By gently guiding the students he aptly demonstrated the role of a supervisor. It was a memorable experience.

A another distinguished student Professor Swarna Jayaweera expressing her gratitude and respect to this great teacher says ‘His incisive intellect, his breadth of vision and his clarity of purpose and action stimulated my learning experiences and no doubt those of many others in senior positions today’.

Finally may I quote Ms. Kamala Peries another of his illustrious students, ‘He displayed a deep sense of responsibility , dedication , great sensitivity and overall humaneness. He was a living embodiment of the values he tried to inculcate in his students . This is why I call him ‘a teacher par excellence’- a teacher worthy of emulation in all aspects, a teacher the radiation of whose personality still encompasses us in its comforting glow’.

At this moment, the oft-quoted verse from Subashitaya of yesteryear springs to my mind . ‘Just as the full moon casts its glow and dispels darkness of the world, outshining the galaxy of stars, a single offspring who is virtuous and wise is worthier than a hundred offspring who are less endowed .’

This I believe is a fitting tribute to a great teacher who stands apart from many others on account of his overwhelming goodness and farsightedness.

‘The body decays but the good name does not’

May he attain Nibbana

Chitrangani M. Abhayadeva