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It
was dusk, when we reached Gurutalawa and I was rather fascinated by the
sight of the little English Chapel with a cross at the top of a stone
pillar. The Chapel was dedicated to S. Francis of According
to the present Head Master, E. G. J. Canagasabey, the school was set up
by shifting classes from the S. Thomas' at Mount Lavinia in the face of
Japanese attacks on Colombo during World War 11. In
the East, when the threat of war shifted to the Indian Ocean with the
advance of the Imperialist military forces of The
College at Mount Lavinia was consequently requisitioned by the British
forces and on April 9, 1942, Dr. R. L. Hayman, the Sub-Warden was sent
to Gurutalawa to prepare a branch for the school, but days before, on
April 5, Colombo was subject to an air raid and a Japanese plane had
actually crashed in the College premises at Mt. Lavinia. Fortunately
a magnificent Farm at Gurutalawa was gifted by Mr. Leslie de Saram (a
Royalist) and Mrs. De Saram, in 1942. Nestled in the hills below Nuwara
Eliya (6700ft) was The Farm, at an elevation of 4000ft, redolent with
fruit of every variety, and the livestock included a herd of over 100
Persian Black Head sheep, a rarity in 'Ceylon'. It
had a central Farm Bungalow, and a spattering of out houses and farm
buildings in an area of over 32 acres. These proved adequate to house a
complement of 55 boarders (in the main Bungalow) and 9 staff members of
whom Dr. R. L. Hayman was Headmaster and Rev. A. J. Foster the Chaplain.
Both
Oxford men, Dr. Hayman, M. A., D.Phil (Oxon) and Rev. Foster, M. A.(Oxon),
who had stamped their mark as extraordinary men and teachers at S.
Thomas' Mount Lavinia in the 1930's, and now went on to imbue the school
at Gurutalawa, with a value system in selfless service, and to establish
a tradition of Excellence, making the school the most sought after in
the whole Island. Mr.
Leslie De Saram and his Farm Manager, Mr. Isaacs, helped immensely in
the preparations. When a plaque with the names of Mr. & Mrs. De
Saram was placed at the College entrance, they insisted that it should
state 'two well wishers' so it reads "The Farm is the gift to STC
from two well wishers, of the College, April 1942". The
first session started in the 2nd term on The
subjects were Divinity, English Language and Literature, Latin,
Vernacular Greek, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, Classical
History and Mathematics in the form of Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and
Trigonometry. Games
were compulsory, and Cricket and Soccer were played in makeshift
conditions outside the Farm boundaries, about 1 1/2 miles distance off
patana with a panoramic view of the Haputale Gap and the South face of
the central hill massif which peaked at Pidurutalagala. Part
of the main school from Mount Lavinia also shifted to Getambe on the
Peradeniya/Kandy Road, and later in the year the Board decided to expand
Gurutalawa to accommodate a further 150 boys from the Getambe 'branch'.
Accordingly, in 1944, the school buildings were extended and the
Gurutalawa boys engaged in "shramadana" to prepare the land in
front of the Farm Bungalow, towards this end. A new set of buildings was
constructed away from the bungalow, which became the senior dormitories.
The
shift took place in 1945, and the Boarding was constituted into three
Houses - Garnier, De Saram and Read. In September of the year, Dr.
Hayman and Canon Foster left on furlough with the end of the war in
Europe, and in December the Chapel dedicated to S. Francis of This
formed a square, with a flank of the Farm Bungalow providing the base,
for the making of the traditional public school "quadrangle".
The buildings were of stone, quarried from the surrounding environs, and
were designed by Mr. Shirley D' Alwis, the University Architect. Currently,
the student population at the school consists of both boarders and day
scholars. Apart from many extra-curricular activities including sports
and diverse students' societies, Information Technology has been
introduced with the donation of computers by an Old Boy domiciled in The
staff, in addition to tuition classes to prepare students for
examinations, conducts extra-classes free of charge on students'
requests. Any student irrespective of whether he is a day scholar or a
boarder could attend extra-classes or tuition classes. Another
speciality in the pedagogic studies is the national integration program
where Sinhala students are encouraged to acquire a fair knowledge of
Tamil language, and Tamil students Sinhala language. "What
I found was that Tamil students are better at picking up Sinhala than
Sinhala students who often found it a little bit difficult to pick up
Tamil", said a teacher. However, the objective of the program is to
impart a fair knowledge of both languages, so as to bridge the
communication gap between the two communities. The school maintains a
1-8 teacher-student ratio, in order to give more individual attention to
students and to maintain a high standard of education. The
education at S. Thomas at Gurutalawa is famous for its qualitative and
comprehensive education that prepares students not only for a lucrative
career locally and internationally, but also for life. It
is this unique combination of pedagogic knowledge and moral values
inculcated in students, that makes them outstanding in life and in their
chosen careers. School conducts classes in two sessions. The students'
day at the hostel starts at At
At
On
normal days, from Then
the students go into the playground, and unless a student is sick, it is
compulsory for them to engage in sports and this goes on till The
students are served dinner around One
of the most striking features of the students' life at Gurutalawa is the
multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-national environment, in which
the students grow up, understanding one another's culture. This
would be further enhanced by the student exchange programme that the
school started with schools in End. |
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