Happy Founders Day and 113th Anniversary to Sri Sumangala College and to all Sumangalians!
Sri Sumangala College, Panadura, celebrates its 113 year today.
The school was founded on March 3, 1909, at the Rankoth Viharaya premises Panadura, by its chief incumbent Ven. Panadura Gnanavimalatissa Thero and Mudliyar Thomas Rodrigo, P. C. H. Dias, Matthes Salgado, P. Domingo Dias, Kornelis Perera, and P. Lewis Dias, followed by Arthur Dias, N. Q. Dias, Susantha De Fonseka, Sir Leo Fernando, and many other philanthropists of Panadura.
The plot of land for the buildings of this budding institution was donated by the famous philanthropist Arthur V. Dias, between his residence and the Rankoth Vihara under the sal tree.
The school was named after the Buddhist Scholar Weligama Sri Sumangala Thero.
This educational institution which was started with 77 students had 325 students when it became a government-assisted school on May 11, 1911, and was managed by a Board of Management consisting of a manager. In 1961 it was vested in the state.
A pioneer in Buddhist Education, P. De S. Kularathne was its manager in 1943. It was a golden era of the college as there were many positive developments took place during his time.
Sri Sumangala College nurtured and molded thousands of excellent citizens such as Sir Ukwatte Jayasundare, Dr. Linton Salgado, Prof. P. E. E. Fernando, H. Jinadasa Samarakkody, Prof. Raja de Fonseka, Prof. Ranjith Ruberu, Dr. Walter Fernando, Dr. Neville Fernando, Prof. P. A. De Silva, Dr. Jayantha Ruberu, Dr. L. L. Gunarathne, Prof. Nimal Chandrasena, Sir Leo Fernando, D. W. J. Perera, Merryl Kariyawasam, P. W. M. Wijesooriya, D. G. Athukorala, Dr. Malinga Fernando, Alec Robertson, Linton Wijenayaka, W. D. Amaradeva, Premasiri Khemadasa, Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, Don Arunasiri, and Dilruwan Perera to mention a few.
On August 7, 1942, all the students of the college between the 7th standard up to the H.S.C. were shifted to the buildings constructed at Nalluruwa to a land to the extent of two acres donated by Walter Salgado, one of the two brothers who were enrolled first, as students of the college. It is very important to point out that it was on March 24, 1940, that the foundation stone was laid for these buildings.
The adjoining land of about 2 1/2 acres which was donated by M. D. Fernando has been turned into the playground of the college. The audience hall of the college was made constructed and donated by Sir Leo Fernando, while P. C. M. Dias contributed largely to the construction of the laboratory. The public of the area, especially of Panadura contributed towards the construction of the buildings.
The students of Sri Sumangala Girl’s School used the laboratory of the college for their highest studies in H.S.C. classes at the initial stage.
The primary classes from Kindergarten up to six standard which had been retained at the town branch adjoining Rankoth Viharaya was headed by A. C. Morawaka, a tough disciplinarian. This branch was also shifted to Nalluruwa premises, making it one institution in 1995.
On May 25, 1993, the college was graded as a National School.
The first two to enroll as students were two brothers Walter and Richard Salgado, the sons of Matthes Salgado, one of the six founders of the college. The children of the other founders also followed suit.
The first Principal of the College was Thomas E. Gunaratne, who held the post till 1912.
The late W. S. M. Wijenayaka (Village Headman of Pohaddaramulla, Wadduwa) was also a student with Walter and Richard Salgado, U. A. Jayasundare, and Sir Leo Fernando when Thomas E. Gunaratne was the Principal succeeded by W. Charles de Silva. His sons, Walter, Sylvester, Llewellyn, and Linton Wijenayaka were also students when A. C. Morawaka was the Head Master and A. J. Fernando who was the Principal, succeeded by K. L. V. Alagiyawanna.
One-third of the college buildings were washed out on December 26, 2004, by the Tsunami. As a result, the college was shifted to the Army camp at Wekada and the camp at Wekada was shifted to the space where the college buildings were.
The college is a National Institution – a part of our national heritage and it has a powerful Old Boys’ Association which was established in 1922.
Some of the devoted eminent past teachers were Thomas E. Gunaratne, R. S. S. Gunawardane, P. De S. Kularatne, M. W. Karunananda, A. J. Fernando and K. L. V. Alagiyawanne. The present Principal of the school is Niluka Weerasinghe.
එසේම විශාකා විද්‍යාලය ආරම්භ කිරීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී සුමංගලයේ ආදී කතෘවරයෙකුවන P. C. H. දියෙස් මහතාද විශාල කාර්ය භාරයක් සිදු කරමින් සෙලෙස්තිනා දියෙස් මැතිනියට සහාය විය.
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99th Annual General Meeting Held Successfully
The 99th AGM of the SSCOBA was held successfully on 26th December 2021 from 0830hrs onwards at the college auditorium with a record number of attendance of old boys showing the growing interest of the OBA activities. This is considered to be a good sign for the future of OBA activities towards our Alma Mater. New office bearers were appointed for the year 2021/2022.
Mr. Mahesh Fonseka got re-elected as the President. Mr. Amila Nawalage & Mr. Dhanuka Kottahachchi were re-elected as Joint Secretaries and Mr. Dinesh Ketipearachchi was re-elected as the Treasurer.
In his welcome speech, Mr. Mahesh Fonseka briefed members about the progress of the OBA, projects carried out in 2020/2021, and thanked everyone who supported OBA in numerous ways.
The Principal, Lt. Col. L. G. P. B. Liyanagaskumbura in his speech mentioned that how he wants to give priority to English Medium education. He briefed old boys on how he has utilized college infrastructure and resources.
The meeting was attended by representatives from other affiliations of OBA including the President of Junior OBA Mr. Buddhi Perera, the President of Colombo Branch HE Sunil De Silva, and the President of Past Cricketers’ Association Mr. Saman Kumara.
A large number of distinguished old boys of various disciplines took part in the event and expressed their views constructively.
The vote of thanks was given by the Jt. Secretary, Mr. Amila Nawalage.
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99th Annual General Meeting | 99 වන වාර්ෂික මහා සභාව
99th Annual General Meeting of the Sri Sumangala College Old Boys’ Association will be held on Sunday, December 26th, 2021, at the college auditorium from 8:30 am onwards. All members are welcome!
පානදුර ශ්‍රී සුමංගල විද්‍යාලයීය ආදී ශිෂ්‍ය සංගමයේ 99වන වාර්ෂික මහා සභාව 2021 දෙසැම්බර් මස 26 වන ඉරිදා උදැසන 8:30 ට විද්‍යාලයීය ශ්‍රවනාගාරයේදී පැවැත්වේ. සියලු ආදී ශිෂ්‍ය සාමාජිකයන්ට ආරාධනා!
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ගුවන්විදුලි රාජ්‍ය සම්මාන උලෙළේ ප්‍රශස්ත ගුවන්විදුලි නිවේදක සහ ප්‍රශස්ත බාහිර විස්තර විචාරක යන සම්මාන ද්විත්වයම අප ආදී ශිෂ්‍ය ගයාන් කෞෂාල් ජයවීරට
ගයාන් කෞශාල් ජයවීර සොයුර, ඔබගේ ඉදිරි මාධ්‍ය ජීවිතය සර්වප්‍රකාරයෙන්ම සාර්ථක වේවා!
ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගුවන්විදුලි රාජ්‍ය සම්මාන සම්මාන උළෙලේදී ප්‍රශස්ත ගුවන් විදුලි නිවේදක සහ ප්‍රශස්ත බාහිර විස්තර විචාරක යන සම්මාන ද්විත්වයට හිමිකම් ලැබූ , ඊට අමතරව ප්‍රශස්ත ගුවන් විදුලි ප්‍රවෘත්ති නිවේදකයා සඳහා නිර්දේශ වූ අප විද්‍යාලයේ කීර්තිමත් ආදි ශිෂ්‍ය මෙන්ම අප සංගමයේ යාවජීව සාමාජික ගයාන් කෞශාල් ජයවීර මහතානෙනි, ඔබට ශ්‍රී සුමංගල විද්‍යාලීය ආදි ශිෂ්‍ය සංගමයේ උනුසුම් සුබ පැතුම් මෙසේ සනිටුහන් කරනු ලබන වගයි.
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Sumangalian, Attorney-at-Law, Thilina Peiris has been appointed as a Judicial Officer (Magistrate/District Judge)
SSCOBA is extremely happy to inform you that our distinguished old boy, 2005/2007 Senior Prefect of the College, Captain of the Debating Team, Legal Advisor of Junior Old Boys’ Association of Sri Sumangala College, Attorney-at-Law, Mr. Thilina Peiris has been appointed as a Judicial Officer (Magistrate/District Judge).
SSCOBA takes this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Peiris on his new appointment and wish him all the very best in his future endeavors.
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Award Ceremony for the winners of Inter Grade Oratory and Quiz Competitions
Award Ceremony for the winners of Inter Grade Oratory and Quiz Competitions conducted to mark the 99th Old Boys’ Day was held on 31st October 2021 at the OBA Office premises. Purposely designed medals and colourful certificates were awarded to the winners of both oratory and quiz competitions. SSCOBA takes this opportunity to express it’s gratitude to all donors who supported this cause.
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Annual Blood Donation Camp 2021
Annual Blood Donation Camp organized by Sri Sumangala College Old Boys’ Association (SSCOBA) in lieu of it’s 99th anniversary was successfully held at the College premises on 31st October 2021. This has been conducted with the collaboration of the medical staff of Kethumathi Maternity Hospital complying with covid-19 safety guidelines. A large number of donors including old boys, their family members and well wishers donated blood at this camp. SSCOBA takes this opportunity to extend it’s heartfelt gratitude to all blood donors for their priceless contribution. Mr. Rajeev Fernando – EXCO member – and his able team should owe a big Thank You for a job well done.
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Thewarathanthrige Sarath Fernando Memorial Award
Awarded to the Student Achieving Best Results at Advanced Level Examination in the Mathematics Stream
Mr. T. Sarath Fernando was born in 1942 and hails from a respectable family from Nalluruwa, Panadura; where he spent his entire childhood. He joined Sri Sumangala Senior School in the 1950s after completing his primary education at Sri Sumangala Town Branch.
He was the eldest child in a family of five siblings. Out of his three brothers – Susil, Ranjith and Wasantha – the later attended Sri Sumangala College during 1960s, while his sister – Pushpa, attended Panadura Balika Vidyalaya. His youngest brother – Mr. Wasantha Fernando is a member of OBA – Colombo Branch.
He lost his father at the age of 11 and had to struggle to complete his education. He achieved ‘Double Senior’ – Two Senior School Certificate Examinations competed in Arts and Mathematics streams – by the time he left the College. Due to financial difficulties, he had to stop pursuing his dream of becoming an engineer. He joined Bank of Ceylon in 1969 and had a successful career and retired as a Senior Manager in 1997. He always enjoyed maths and cherished his learnings and memories at Sri Sumangala College. This award is presented by the family of late Mr. Sarath Fernando to promote students of Sri Sumangala College who aspire to pursue a career in engineering.
Master A. H. Rashmin De Silva Senapriya is the proud winner of T. Sarath Fernando Memorial award for 2021 for his outstanding results at advanced level examination 2020. Since the pandemic conditions have apprehended mass gatherings, the annual prize giving of the College for 2020 could not be held. As such the prize was awarded to the student at a function held at Jie Jie Beach by Jetwing on 31st October 2021 with the participation of the family members of late Mr. Sarath Fernando, members of the Head Table of SSCOBA and two Vice Presidents of SSCOBA. The family of late Mr. Sarath Fernando and SSCOBA wish all the very best for the future of A. H. Rashmin De Silva Senapriya.
Mr. Bingumal Thewarathanthri, the son of late Mr. Sarath Fernando, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank of Sri Lanka expressed the willingness of his family to continue this award for future as well.
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SSCOBA is 99 Years Young Today
Sri Sumangala College Old Boys’ Association (SSCOBA) is celebrating its 99th Anniversary today. Having established on 28th October 1922 under the Presidency of Mr. Abeyseela Ginige, it has been an integral part of our Alma Mater right throughout. As the official alumni of the College, SSCOBA has embarked on variety of activities to support the development of our Alma Mater and her student population.
Sri Sumangala College was formally established on March 3rd, 1909 by founder members, Philanthropists of Panadura, late Mudliyer Thomas Rodrigo, M. Mathes Salgado, P. Lewis Dias, P. Domingo Dias, P.C.H. Dias, and M. Coranelis Perera under the patronage of Chief incumbent of Rankoth Viharaya Most Ven. Walpita Gunarathanatissa Thero who suggested that the new college in the temple premises be named after his teacher, most Ven. Sasanawansha Kavidhaja Weligama Sri Sumangala Nayaka Thero to immortalize the name of his teacher. Mr. Thomas Gunaratne was the first Principal of the College and the classes were conducted at the Dhamma sermon hall of the historical Rankoth Viharaya Panadura. Later few buildings were constructed to meet the demand of the increasing number of students to the College.
As the time went on with the increase of the student population, Sri Sumangala was in need of expansion and was required to move out its secondary classes due to limited land space at the Rankoth Vihara temple. The OBA was instrumental and took the initiative to establish Sri Sumangala College at Nalluruwa in 1942 in a land donated by the first student of the College, Mr. Walter Salgado. The College was later expanded with the donation of block of land by Mrs. Sicilyn Perera, the wife of one of the founders.
In December 2004, catastrophic Tsunami destroyed most of the buildings of the College facing the sea and it had a direct impact on some of the parents and students, tutorial staff, and there was a unanimous request to relocate the College to a safer location. Accordingly, a decision was taken by the Government with the sponsorship of the Japanese Government to relocate the College to a more secure and suitable land at Wekada, Panadura. Despite resistance by a few, with the leadership of the Principal and with the able support of the SSCOBA, it was possible to overcome all these obstacles to realize the dream of a brand new college but with the same blend of the Sumangala to become the beacon of the Kalutara District. It is the desire of the SSCOBA to see that Sri Sumangala College is one of the leading pioneering educational institutions in Sri Lanka.
Sri Sumangala College, with over 110 years of history, is a pioneering institute of learning in Sri Lanka which continues to produce a wide array of outstanding Sri Lankans. Among them, there are professionals of high caliber, in Engineering, Medical, Technical, IT fields, Public Administrators, Accountants, Scientists, outstanding Sportsmen, Businessmen, Entrepreneurs, Media personalities, Artists, and Politicians. It could be easily recognized Sri Sumangala College as an institution that has contributed directly and widely towards the well-being and development of our country and it standout as one of the leading National Schools in Sri Lanka.
The SSCOBA is growing day by day with many branches and associate groups are being founded. As of now, there are several branches established, namely Junior OBA, Colombo Branch, Kandy Branch, Australian Branch, Italy Branch, UAE Branch, etc. In addition, several other associate groups have been formed for the betterment of the Alma mater, such as Old Sumangalians Medical Professionals ‘Association, Past Cricketers’ Association, Past Cadets’ Association, Past Scouts’ Association, etc. It is the common objective of SSCOBA and its affiliates to work towards a better tomorrow for the College and students.
2009 was a memorable year for both SSCOBA and the College since the centenary of the College was celebrated with the ceremonial opening of the re-constructed Sri Sumangala College by H.E. President Mahinda Rajapaksha on April 23rd, 2009 and with a series of events including All night pirith ceremony, almsgiving for 100 priests, centenary exhibition, Inter-school Contests in various fields, etc. Simultaneously a commemorative stamp and a first-day cover were presented to H.E. the President by Mr. M. S. Sellasamy then the Deputy Minister of Postal Services to mark the centenary of the College. The distinguished old boy, Dr. Neville Fernando donated 17 brand new computers to upgrade the computer lab. The OBA head-quarter at the new college premises was opened on March 15th, 2009, by the late Mr. K. Thilak Peiris who was the oldest living member of the OBA at that time.
A much-needed necessity of a swimming pool was constructed to the international standard and was presented to the Alma Mater by another distinguished old boy, a former Lion’s Governor, Deshabimannya Mr. Rohantha De Fonseka where he donated a sum of Rs. 6.4 million towards the construction of the swimming pool. The balance cost of Rs. 5 million was raised from several donors of the OBA and was ceremonially opened and dedicated to the student community on June 28, 2009.
In the year 2011, the SSCOBA along with Junior OBA has embarked on several projects for the benefit and development of Alma Mater and the student population. These include the establishment of special fund schemes which enable the donor to select the field through which the donor would help the students / College, scholarships for students who excelled in their studies, library development, sports development, development scouting and cadetting, establishment of IT resource centre, counseling and arrangement of medical aid to the needy students etc.
Last year, 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic situation, college administration and SSCOBA started online classes for college students. Microsoft Teams and Office 365 were implemented at the college with email access to every student at the college. This project was carried out with the collaboration of Microsoft and Sanji (Pvt) Ltd and our old boy Mr. Nirodha Goonawardena was instrumental in coordinating this project. The above project was quite handy in this year (2021) too given the pandemic conditions. SSCOBA supported the education of school children especially those who are facing GCE O/L and Grade Five Scholarship Exams this year conducting a series of online education activities in a successful manner.
Owing to the dedication, unblemished service of past and present leadership, along with the strength and co-operation of the members, the present membership of OBA has surpassed the 4000 members. With the affiliation of the Junior OBA and Colombo, Kandy, Australian, Italy and UAE branches, Old Sumangalians Medical Professionals ‘Association, Past Cricketers’ Association, and other associate bodies have made SSCOBA a very powerful organization of its class to become one of the strongest OBAs in the Island.
All the above achievements have proved that SSCOBA is able to face any challenge successfully to overcome all the obstacles to reach the objectives.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, SSCOBA had to cancel the Old Boys’ Day Celebrations this year too, but managed to conduct several projects in lieu of the 99th Old Boys’ day.
- Conducting “Do You Know contests” and “Oratory” contests for the school children from grade 1-13 using the online platforms for the first time in SSCOBA history. The medals and certificates for the winners will be given at a future date when the circumstances allow us to do so.
- Almsgiving to five elderly homes and children’s homes in the area as in the past years.
- Awarding scholarships for deserved students
- Organizing a blood donation camp on 31st October 2021
SSCOBA expresses its sincere appreciation to everyone for their excellent support and assistance extended for the successful completion of the OBA day activities in 2021.
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Blood Donation 2021
ශ්‍රී සුමංගල විද්‍යාලීය ආදි ශිෂ්‍ය සංගමයේ 99 වන ආදිශිෂ්‍ය දිනය නිමිති කරගෙන පානදුර කේතුමතී කාන්තා රෝහලේ රුධිර පාරවිලයන මධ්‍යස්ථානය සඳහා පවත්වනු ලබන ලේ දන්දීමේ වාර්ෂික වැඩසටහන 2021 ඔක්තෝම්බර් 31 වන ඉරු දින පෙරවරු 9 සිට පස්වරු 3 දක්වා විද්‍යාලයීය ආදි ශිෂ්‍ය සංගම් මුලස්ථානයේදී පැවැත්වේ. මෙම වැඩසටහන සඳහා ඔබ සැමගේ සහභාගිත්වය අගය කරමු.
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