Sri Sumangala College, Panadura, celebrates its 111 year today.

The school was founded on the 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, myself, Walter, Sylvester, Llevellyn 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 wish 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 Lt. Colonel L.G.P.B Liyangaskumbura.

2004 Batch of Sri Sumangala College – Panadura together with the Old Boys’ Association has donated Rs 270,000/- worth of desks and chairs for English medium students of the college.

President of SSCOBA Mr. Mahesh Fonseka, Join Secretary of SSCOBA Mr. Dinesh Katipearachchi, Treasurer of SSCOBA Mr. Dhanuka Kottahachchi, Vice President & Infrastructure Development Sub Committee Chairman of SSCOBA Mr. Jagath Pushpakumara, Mr. Viraj Silva, Mr. Dilika Maduranga and Mr. Amara Lanka from 2004 Batch, Vice Principal and English medium teachers attended the occasion along with English medium students and parents.

We would like to thank the 2004 Batch members for their generous contribution to improving the college infrastructure and facilities.

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Old Boys’ Association of Sri Sumangala College, the official alumni of the Alma Mater has donated over Rs.3.7Mn towards the college during 2019.

The breakup is as follows.

• Sports Meet Upper School: Rs 745,764/-
• Prize Giving: Rs 600,410/-
• Statue of Sri Sumangala Thero: Rs 575,925/-
• Academic Staff Allowances: Rs 420,000/-
• Scholarships: Rs 365,500/-
• Big Match: Rs 250,000/-
• Cricket Coaching Fees: Rs 220,000/-
• Volleyball Court: Rs 175,000/-
• Exam Answer Sheets: Rs 166,160/-
• Sports Meet Primary School: Rs 54,000/-
• Rugby Coaching Fees: Rs 50,000/-
• Repairs: Rs 48,948/-
• Do You Know Contest: Rs 34,000/-
• Rugby & Other Sports Equipments: Rs 22,530/-

Total: Rs 3,728,237/-

We would like to thank all our distinguished old boys & well-wishers who made this possible.

We will keep supporting the college as the official alumni and request all Old Sumangalians around the world to get in touch with us if you would like to be a part of this honorary service we render to our Alma Mater.

Old Boys’ Association of Sri Sumangala College developed and donated the eagerly awaited volleyball court facility at Sri Sumangala College on Thursday, January 23rd, 2020.

The President of the SSCOBA, Mr. Mahesh Fonseka and the Principal Mr. Dimuthu Deranagoda graced the occasion along with Vice Principals, SSCOBA Exco Members, past volleyball players of the college and present volleyball players of the college.

As part of the opening ceremony, present college volleyball players played a friendly match with the past volleyball players of the college.

We would like to thank each and everyone who was part of this successful project and helped us to get this done on time.

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SSCOBA led by the President, Mr. Mahesh Fonseka, held the very 1st meeting of the year 2020 on the 19th of January, 2020 at the SSCOBA Headquarters.

SSCOBA Patron, The Principal of the Sri Sumangala College, Mr. Dimuthu Deranagoda, SSCOBA Patron, Former SSCOBA Joint Secretary Mr. Sarath Alwis, and SSCOBA Advisor, Former SSCOBA President Mr. Wilson Kahandagamge and SSCOBA Advisor, Former SSCOBA President Mr. Sanath De Silva were presented at the meeting and shared their valuable thoughts and wishes for the new year.

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Old Boys’ Association of Sri Sumangala College – Panadura successfully organized its first Career Guidance Program on Saturday, January 11, 2020 at the College Auditorium.

This is a first it’s kind of a program conducted in Panadura where students and parents were able to get one-on-one consultations from industry professionals and reputed institutes.

The event was attended by students and their parents. The SLIIT Academy, Cinec Campus, UNIVOTEC (The University of Vocational Technology), APIIT and TVEC (Tertiary & Vocational Education Commission) had their representatives to present their programs and one-on-one sessions.

Old Sumangalian Tilak De Silva did his presentation on Career Guidance and Chamil Jeewantha, Software Architect at Zone24/7 and Visiting Lecturer at University of Moratuwa, University of Kelaniya and University of Ruhuna and Hasith Yaggahavita, Chief Technology Officer at 99X Technology and Board member of SLASSCOM presented their BRIDGE program and one-on-one sessions.

We would like to thank everyone who got involved in this first-ever program and we will make sure this will be a part of SSCOBA’s annual event calendar.

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Are you after 2019 A/Ls?

Students studying at college level are currently choosing a career based on parental, peer and societal influence. More importantly a lot of them drop out of education post A/Ls as they are not provided with any guidance. Also there is a huge gap in aspiration and awareness of vocational careers among students.

Seeing these issues in our Alma Mater, SSCOBA Digital & ICT Subcommittee planned to launch a career guidance project with an aim to help 2019 A/L students in taking effective transition from school to workforce and higher education.

This program is the brainchild of Old Sumangalian Tilak De Silva. The former Chief Business Innovation Officer of Sri Lanka Telecom, Past President of Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka and present Chairman of Engineering Council Sri Lanka.

Part from Tilak De Silva, this program program has two more speakers joining us.

Chamil Jeewantha, Software Architect at Zone24/7 and Visiting Lecturer at University of Moratuwa, University of Kelaniya and University of Ruhuna.

Hasith Yaggahavita, Chief Technology Officer at 99X Technology and Board member of SLASSCOM.

Our partners, SLIIT, Cinec Campus, UNIVOTEC (The University of Vocational Technology), APIIT and TVEC (Tertiary & Vocational Education Commission) will have their representatives to guide you at our program and one-on-one sessions.

2019 A/L students of Sri Sumangala College and their parents are requested to take part in this program and take advantage.

Call Chamara on 0712 967 967 or Sampath on 077 783 6296 or Lishan on 077 780 2562 for more details.

ශ්‍රී සුමංගල විද්‍යාලීය ආදී ශිෂ්‍ය සංගමය 2022 දී ශත සංවත්සරය සමරන මොහොතේ දිවයිනේ දක්ෂතම පාසල් චෙස් ක්‍රීඩකයන් 10 දෙනා අතර බහුතරය සුමඟුල් පුතුන් වනු දැකීම අපගේ අරමුණයි.

එකී අරමුණ ඉෂ්ට කර ගනු වස් ශ්‍රී සුමංගල විද්‍යාලීය ආදී ශිෂ්‍ය සංගමය සංවිධානය කරන ලද බස්නාහිර පළාත් වයස් කාණ්ඩ චෙස් තරඟාවලිය 2019 දෙසැම්බර් 18 වන දින ශ්‍රී සුමංගල විද්‍යාලිය සෝමතිලක විතාරණ ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේදී පවත්වන ලදී.

එහි ත්‍යාග ප්‍රධානෝත්සවයේ ප්‍රධාන ආරාධිත අමුත්තා ලෙස විද්‍යාලයේ වර්තමාන විදුහල්පති දිමුතු දෙරනගොඩ මැතිතුමාද, එහි විශේෂ ආරාධිත අමුත්තා ලෙස අප සංගමයේ හිටපු සභාපති වත්මන් උපදේශක කිත්සිරි සිල්වා මැතිතුමාද සහභාගී විය.

Old Boys’ Association of Sri Sumangala College is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2022 and one of its goals is to have Sumangalians in the top 10 school chess players.

As part of achieving that goal, SSCOBA organized a Western Province Individual Chess Championship on December 18, 2019, at the Somathilaka Witharana Auditorium at Sri Sumangala College.

The Principal of Sri Sumangala College, Dimuthu Deranagoda graced the awards ceremony as the chief guest and Past President of SSCOBA and Present Advisor, Kithsiri Silva graced the occasion as the guest of honor.

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Limited stock of the official SSCOBA T-Shirts are available to purchase now.

Call Thalis on 077 764 1601 or 070 394 0940 and grab yours now.

Old Boys’ Association of Sri Sumangala College – Panadura organizing a Western Province Chess Championship on 18th December 2019 at the College Auditorium.

There will be separate girls and boys games in Under 9, Under 11, Under 13, Under 15 and Under 20. Parents also can participate in the Parents’ Event.

To register, SMS Player Name, Birthday, Gender, Name of the School or Club to 070 394 0940. Entry fee is Rs 1,000/-

Call Ishan on 0717 073 531 or Kumarasiri on 0777 716 214 for more details.