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Happy Founders Day and 113th Anniversary to Sri Sumangala College and to all Sumangalians!

/ / News & Events

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.

පානදුරේ දරුවන් කොළඹට නොයවා බෞද්ධ අධාපනයක් ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් පනදුරේදීම ලබාදීම සඳහා P . ලුවිස් දියෙස්, M. මත්තෙස් සල්ගාදු, මුඳලිඳු තෝමස් රොද්‍රිගෝ, P. C. H. දියෙස්, දුමිංගු දියෙස් සහ M. කොරනේලිස් පෙරේරා යන දානපති ආදී කතෘවරුන් 6 දෙනාගේ මුලිකත්වයෙන් ශ්‍රී සුමංගලය ආරම්භ විය.
පුජ්‍ය වැලිගම ශ්‍රී සුමංගල මහා නා හිමියන් සිහිගන්වනු පිණිස “ශ්‍රී සුමංගල” යන නාමය තබන ලදී.
පානදුරා වාදයත් සමඟ සර් හෙන්රි ස්ටීල් ඕල්කට් තුමාගේ ලංකා ගමනයෙන් ඇතිවූ බෞද්ධ පුනරුදයේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස 1909 මාර්තු 03 වන දින පානදුර රන්කොත් විහාරයේදී ශ්‍රී සුමංගල විද්‍යාලය ආරම්භ විය. අදට වසර 113 කි.
ශ්‍රී සුමංගලය ආරම්භ කිරීම සඳහා 1909 දී එම භුමිය රංකොත් විහාරයට ලබා දුන්නේ “කොස් මාමා” ලෙසින් ප්‍රසිද්ධ ආතර් V. දියෙස් මහතායි. එතුමා 1917 දී බම්බලපිටියේ විශාකා විද්‍යාලය ආරම්භ කල සෙලෙස්තිනා දියෙස් මැතිනියගේ පුත්‍රයෙකි.

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.
ප්‍රථම විදුහල්පති වූයේ තෝමස් E. ගුණරත්න මහතායි.
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