St. Aloysius' College, Galle Explained

Address:Templars' Road
Zipcode:80000
Country:Sri Lanka
Coordinates:6.0358°N 80.2122°W
Type:National School
Religious Affiliation:Society of Jesuits and The Church
Principal:Abeywardhana Anura Gamage
Grades:1 to G.C.E. Advanced Level
Gender:Boys
Students:5000
Colours:Green and gold
Slogan:Latin: Certa Viriliter
Strive Manfully
Free Label 2:Nickname of Students
Alumni:Old Aloysians
Free 2:Aloysian

Saint Aloysius' College (Sinhala; Sinhalese: සාන්ත ඇලෝෂියස් විද්‍යාලය) is a boys' high school located in Galle, the capital city of Southern Province in Sri Lanka. The school was established in 1895 by recently arrived Belgian Jesuit missionaries, led by Joseph Van Reeth, first bishop of Galle. St. Aloysius' College is a national school that provides primary and secondary education. In 2012, it had 4,000 students on its roll.

History

St. Aloysius' College is situated on Mount Calvary, neighbouring St. Mary's Cathedral on one side and Sacred Heart Convent on the other. The college was established in 1895 by Belgian Jesuit fathers and was named after the Jesuit saint, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. St. Aloysius' College, Galle, is one of many schools named St Aloysius' College.

Until the Sri Lankan government passed legislation for the nationalisation of schools in the island (with an exception of only a few schools), St. Aloysius' College was run by Jesuit Fathers, and the medium of instruction was English. The first Buddhist principal was appointed in 1971, and subsequently the medium of instruction was changed to Sinhala.

College today

The college provides education to 5000 students from grade 1 to G.C.E. A/L. The students of the school fall into diverse religious groups where over 90 percent of students are Buddhists and the others are Christian (or Catholic) and Muslim.

Crest

Centre: IHS – Iesus Hominum Salvator("Jesus Saviour of Mankind")
1. The Tusker – Courage
2. Lilies – Purity of conscience
3. Torch – Torch of learning
4. Rooster – Symbol of Galle

Houses

Students represent five houses that are named after Jesuit Fathers who were pioneers in developing the school in its early days.Students are divided into houses according to their admission number.

Sports

Sports is a major part of St. Aloysius’ College. Cricket, Basketball, Rugby, Football, Hockey and Swimming are some of the sports among over 20 sports in College. Among all of them, Rugby takes a prominent role as it has a history starting from 1980s. As a foot step of that, with the motto ‘‘ Born with the Stuff ’’ Rugby was introduced at St. Aloysius’ in latter part of 1980s. The first historic match was played in 1992 against Richmond College. Taking centre stage of the annual sporting calendar are the St. Aloysius' - Richmond Rugby Encounter.

Principals

PeriodPrincipal
1896 – 1910Joseph Van Reeth
1910 – 1921Dionysius Murphy
1921 – 1925John Delaney
1925 – 1949Ernest Gaspard
1949 – 1962Paul Nazarine Peiris
1963 – 1968Paul Caspersz
1968 – 1970Stephen Fernando (acting)
1970 – 1971Paul Caspersz
13 June 1971 – 1 April 1972B. K. Silva
1 April 1972 – 28 February 1973Dunstan Fernando
28 February 1973 – 3 August 1973J. B. Varnakulasingham (acting)
3 August 1973 – 22 December 1975L. D. P. Jayasinghe
22 December 1975 – 25 May 1976A. B. J. L. Fernando (acting)
25 May 1976 – 7 January 1987D. Y. Wijewickrama
7 January 1987 – 1996A. V. Illeperuma
1996 – 2004N. K. Ariyawansa
2004 –2004Nandasena Pathirana (acting)
2004 – 2014D. P. L. S. Gunasekara
2014 - 2014Piyasiri Kumarage (acting)
2014 - 2017 OctoberRanjith Thilakarathne
2017 - 2017L.P.Weeraman (acting)
2017–2020Nayanapriya Perera
2020–PresentAnura Gamage

Old Boys' associations

There are a number of branches of the school's Old Boys’ Association located all around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Qatar and the United Kingdom.

Notable alumni

NameNotabilityReference
playwright, novelist, poet and literary critic
Scientist (Molecular Evolution) in Exobiology Division at NASA's Ames Research Center[1]
educationist, founder of D. S. Senanayake College (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
economist, Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon (1953 - 1954)
Judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (1964 - 1974)
General - Commander of the Army (2004 - 2005)
President - Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology
Director, University of Colombo School of Computing
consultant psychiatrist, author, buddhist scholar
Chief Minister of Southern Province (1998 - 1993), Governor of Uva (1999 - 2003)
Member of Parliament (Galle) (2009 - present)
musician, composer, singer, lyricist
business owner, philanthropist, Mayor of Galle (1950–51; 1954–62)[2]
songwriter, composer, music arranger, instrumentalist
Chairman - George Steuart Group, Director - Citrus Leisure PLC, Managing Director - Triad (Pvt) Ltd
One Day International cricket player (2014)
First class cricket player
Member of Parliament (Galle) (2010 - present)
Chairman, CEO of Strategic Enterprise Management Agency at Presidential Secretariat
International cricketer

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Cyril Ponnamperuma.
  2. Book: The Aloysian, 1915-1990: Diamond Jubilee Souvenir. St. Aloysius' College. 93. 1990.