Main Diploma


Our free, full-time main diploma course is our pride and joy, helping the 18 to 24-year-old children of the tea estates of Sri Lanka. The course is open to anyone who is unemployed and living in the estates or towns of the tea plantation area. Fourteen of our sixteen staff are graduates of the main diploma and nine of our teachers live on local tea estates.

There are two main areas of focus for the main diploma that support our young adults to realise their full potential:

1) Professional Development

The Diploma supports youth to develop skills for the labour market so that they can enter the workplace as confident individuals, capable of making a valuable contribution to the companies they work with, and society overall. It focuses on English language proficiency, public speaking, basic I.T skills, an understanding of the business environment and professionalism. Structured programmes are delivered to enable students to put into practice what they have learned, such as at the Business Fair and the Speech Conference.

2) Personal Development

There is a strong focus on supporting students to develop their self-esteem, self-awareness, and on promoting ethnic cohesion. Emotional Health lessons raise awareness about common problems, such as addiction and depression, with the aim of strengthening positive coping strategies. Success and Ethics places strong emphasis on serving the less fortunate in their communities. The students are engaged in many activities aimed at making them ‘Change Agents’, such as a group and individual Service Project and the Community English Programme.