By Ifham Nizam
Sri Lanka needs to spend smartly on and invest in the youngest children to ensure the highest returns to the country from such endeavours, UNICEF Representative to Sri Lanka, Christian Skoog said.
Speaking to the media on Nov. 20th on the occasion of the anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Colombo, Skoog said that evidence from child development and efficiency in public expenditures shows the importance of the earliest years of children, with the first 1,000 days in a child’s life providing an unprecedented opportunity to support physical and cognitive growth.
“Child benefits are an evidence-based and scalable policy that prevents poverty and supports child health, nutrition and education outcomes. They can be progressively implemented, starting from programmes, such as, the pregnancy voucher for pregnant and lactating women, he added.
Skoog stressed that Sri Lanka needs to take urgent steps to strengthen Foundational Learning now as a core base of human capital development for future socio-economic development. He said that evidence shows that as little as USD 10 to USD 15 can provide a child with remedial education and strengthen education systems to help ensure every child learns critical foundational skills.
Speaking to The Island Financial Review, he said that they are constantly in touch with the Justice Ministry, Education Ministry and other stake holders to change age old laws for the betterment of children’s rights.
Skoog added: ‘According to recent data on Child Multidimensional Poverty in Sri Lanka, more than four out of every ten (42.2 per cent) children under 5 years are deprived or live in a household deprived of two or more basic rights related to health, education, adequate living standards, or early childhood development.
‘As per the national assessment conducted by the Ministry of Education in 2021-2022, only 14% of Grade 3 students reached all essential learning competencies in literacy. In numeracy, it was 15%. Yet these competencies form the foundation on which children build their knowledge and different skills for the future.
‘Across Sri Lanka, there over 10,000 children in institutional care and detention, living in conditions that fall far short of what they need, to develop to their full potential. Over 90% of these children have a family to go to and with the right support could return home.’