SriLanka, Sept. 29 -- Nearly 250 children from Sri Lanka's plantation communities have entered local universities over the past two years, marking the highest number recorded by the sector and signalling a significant shift in the educational prospects of plantation families.

The achievement reflects decades of investment in education, healthcare and child development by Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs), the Government and plantation-sector trade unions through the Planters' Human Development Trust (PHDT), established in 1992.

The transformation is particularly visible in early childhood care. Traditional estate "Pulle Madu" facilities, where infants were once cared for while their mothers worked, have gradually been replaced by ful...