Empowerment Inside School

Learning begins inside school

After seven years of working with young people, we saw that we needed to start earlier. We set up Empowerment Inside School (EIS) to reach children while they are still in school. The aim is for students to find out what they are good at, build practical skills and see new possibilities for their futures.

EIS is planned as a six-year programme, from Grade 6 to Grade 11. At its centre is ICT taught to the government syllabus, together with robotics and STEAM learning. Schools are chosen because they face barriers such as:

• no ICT teacher or no computer lab;
• weak ICT examination results;
• a rural or marginalised setting.

Before teaching starts, we plan the work with the education authorities, find out what each school needs and take a starting measurement. We work with written approval from the Zonal Education Offices.

Reach

From March to August 2026, the programme had 902 students enrolled at 18 schools, and it ran 131 sessions in that time.

An attendance instance is one student at one session. A student who comes to ten sessions counts ten times, so attendance instances are not a number of students.

How the programme started in 2025

Between July and December 2025, the programme reached 194 students in Grades 6 to 9 at five Batticaloa schools. In Hatton, it reached 306 students at two schools: 186 in ICT and 120 in robotics. Three schools in Mullaitivu had been chosen but teaching had not started there, so they are not in those results.

The 2025 and 2026 figures cover different periods and different activities. Both are enrolment numbers. We are setting up checks of what students learn, and will report them here.

How the programme works

Learning ICT by doing needs computers, and time to use them. EIS brings both into the school day. We carry a set of five laptops and one projector from school to school, so students can use a computer in their own classroom.

Lessons mix ICT ideas with Scratch programming and practical tasks. Students then use what they have learned in their own projects and in group projects.

Learning through making

EIS also covers electronics, sensors, servo motors and design thinking. In these activities students take an idea from the classroom and turn it into something they can build, explain and improve. Teachers and trainers guide the work, so that having the equipment leads to learning.

Schools taking part

From March to August 2026, the programme ran in these schools in Batticaloa, Kantale and Hatton.

What the assessments show

Six Batticaloa schools now put ICT assessment results on students' official progress reports, with the approval of the Zonal Education Office. The ICT assessment is half written and half practical, 50% each. That way it shows what students can do, as well as what they can explain on paper.

In our own assessments, about 50% of the students assessed improved in ICT. The schools and the Batticaloa Zonal Education Office also report that the schools held ICT examinations for the first time since the subject entered the curriculum in 2015.

The 50% figure is an early sign, not a full measure of what students learned. We are putting the same test of improvement in place in every school, and will report the results here.

From the schools

A reason to come to school on Monday

Manchanthoduwai Barathy Vidyalayam is on the outskirts of Batticaloa. Some of its children face hard situations at home, and the school has struggled to keep them interested and attending regularly. The principal says more children come to school on Mondays, the day of the EIS sessions.

That has led the school to ask a further question: how could the same interest bring children in on the other days of the week?

We have not measured the difference in attendance yet.

For the first time, ICT marks on the progress report

According to the schools and the Batticaloa Zonal Education Office, these schools had not held ICT examinations or formal assessments since the subject entered the curriculum in 2015. Students had no ICT marks on their progress reports.

After joining EIS, the schools held ICT examinations. We prepared the papers, marked the students' work and sent each student's results to their school. Six Batticaloa schools then added these marks to students' official progress reports.

Other education zones have since asked for the programme. EIS already works with the Zonal Education Offices in Kantale and Hatton. Nuwara Eliya has given its support and asked for help, and Kalkudah in Batticaloa District has asked for EIS to reach more of its schools that need support.

A tea picker's bag with its own umbrella

A 12-year-old student from the tea plantations in the Upcountry has been using robotics to solve everyday problems in his community. Through our Robotics Programme, we gave him mentoring, tools and a place to try out and improve his designs. One of his prototypes is a smart bag for tea pickers. It has:

• a lightweight bag for collecting tea leaves;
• a rain sensor that opens an umbrella attached to the bag;
• a digital system that keeps track of the weight of leaves collected.

He now mentors children his own age from nearby schools. He presented his invention to ARAM Initiative, a UK-based organisation that supports sustainable development work in Sri Lanka. ARAM said it was willing to support further development, and he received a laptop for his work.

The bag is still a prototype. It needs more development and testing with tea pickers before anyone knows how useful it is in practice, and it has not been made or used more widely.

Teachers

Teachers carry the learning forward

Together with SteamHead, we have supported STEAM teacher training in the Batticaloa and Kalkudah education zones, with sessions for principals and education-office staff as well. Several teachers have gone on to start their own Arduino classes. This way, schools can keep practical learning going themselves.

Supporting teachers alongside students

We have run at least five teacher-training sessions in the programme. In Hatton, three sessions covered digital media literacy, AI in education and practical classroom tools. They focused on using digital tools safely and with a critical eye in teaching. In Batticaloa, two sessions covered practical digital learning and technology skills that help teachers support ICT, STEAM and innovation by students.

Teachers say they feel more confident with digital tools. We are improving how we follow up with teachers, to find out how they use this learning in their classrooms, which classes they now run and how many students those classes reach.

What comes next

Beyond the computer lesson

The aim goes beyond digital skills, to leadership, thinking like an entrepreneur and a sense of responsibility towards the community. Two plans come first in the next phase:

• Innovation Clubs, run by students, where they can code, build robots, use design thinking and solve problems together;
• an inter-school robotics and innovation exhibition for the schools taking part in the Upcountry.

We also plan to encourage conservation projects, climate awareness, waste management, recycling and community clean-ups. These help students connect what they learn with the wellbeing of their school and the community around it.

Expansion through local partners

From October 2026, EIS reaches four more schools through local partners: one at Kathiraveli in Vakarai through Kathira Greens, and three in Nuwara Eliya through GROW. These are the next phase, and are not part of the results for the 18 schools from March to August 2026. The first tasks in these schools are to:

• complete approvals and timetables;
• bring trainers and teachers on board;
• prepare equipment and learning materials;
• take starting measurements and begin recording attendance.

A proposed mathematics programme

The Batticaloa Zonal Education Office has asked for an extra mathematics programme in 50 schools in Batticaloa District, and as of October 2026 we are discussing it with the office. The programme would find the students who need extra help and give them activities aimed at basic numeracy, mathematical thinking and confidence.

It is expected to start in November 2026, once we and the Zonal Education Office reach a final agreement and plan how it will run. The 50 schools are a proposal. They are not part of the results above.

Making the work last

For now, our priority is to strengthen the programme in the schools we already work with. That means regular practical sessions, well-prepared trainers, equipment, learning materials and involving teachers, with attendance and assessments recorded the same way everywhere.

In the longer term, the aim is better access to ICT labs and digital resources. We also want to work with education authorities towards permanent ICT teaching in the schools that are least well served today.

Partners

EIS works with regional organisations that know their school communities, and with the Zonal Education Offices.

Project partners

The programme is supported by its project partners: ChanceMaker, Micro-Tech CNC, Knorr-Bremse and Impact Q.