Pilot Programme on using ‘Storytelling’ techniques in Schools

4 August 2023

A two-day workshop on story-telling for school teachers was held recently in Kandy, Sri Lanka, as a pilot programme to introduce this technique as a tool in classrooms. The project is a joint initiative between The Caravanserai Collective based in the United Kingdom and Zam Zam Foundation with the support of Education Without Borders International (EWBI) headquartered in Switzerland.

The teacher-training pilot workshop was preceded by a ‘Design Sprint’ where senior officers and specialists related to public education sector took part in a facilitated whole-day session on content sensitization and contextual design of Cerita Model of Storytelling.

The project is on it’s pilot phase with the objectives of building peaceful coexistence and creating mutual understanding among diverse students using the tool of storytelling through teachers trained as Facilitators of such sessions in schools. For the first phase, 12 teachers selected from the Gampola Education Zone, representing the diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious composition of the Zone, participated in the workshop.

Co-Founders & Co-Directors of the Caravanserai Collective Stephen Shashoua and Abdul-Rehman Malik participated as resource persons.

EWBI is an international organization based in Geneva, concerned with educating children in affected regions, and improving educational and training services in crisis areas. The Caravvanserai Collective is a social cohesion and anti-polarization project, powered by technology, that amplifies citizen voices through their unique techniques developed under Cerita Storytelling. Zam Zam Foundation is a non-profit organization which was founded in the year 2013, and operates with the principle “Humanity beyond Religion”