{"id":67647,"date":"2017-07-07T14:48:39","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T21:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=67647"},"modified":"2017-07-07T15:11:51","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T22:11:51","slug":"royal-college-175th-anniversary-a-forgotten-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/07\/07\/royal-college-175th-anniversary-a-forgotten-incident\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal College 175th Anniversary: A forgotten incident"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Janaka Perera<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

As Sri Lanka\u2019s Royal College celebrates the 175th anniversary of its
\nfounding this year on a grand scale of pomp and pageantry that perhaps
\nno other school in the country can match, it is a moot question to ask
\nwhether there are alternate voices from within or outside Royal
\nCollege, that have different views on how the grand old school should
\ncelebrate its anniversaries and success with the virtually unlimited
\nresources it commands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parties on the streets may not be every student\u2019s cup of tea in so far
\nas celebration of school anniversaries or use of school resources is
\nconcerned, however plenty they may be. To be fair by Royal College it
\nhas not been without dissident voices even within its student ranks,
\nwho have grappled with moral conscience and spoken out in favour of
\nothers less privileged than the \u2018elite\u2019 students attending some
\nColombo based schools.<\/p>\n

This is the story of one such incident. It happened in September 1967
\nwhen the construction of the Royal College Swimming Pool had
\ncommenced. A young student of the school deeply concerned at the
\ngrowing disparity in facilities enjoyed by the Colombo based \u2018elite\u2019
\nschools and the vast majority of rural schools decided to take a stand
\nvia a protest. He made an appeal in writing to his fellow students
\ncalling on them to consider the plight of the less fortunate students
\nin rural schools and forego some of the benefits enjoyed by them
\nthereby upholding the principle that \u2018Self sacrifice is more virtuous
\nthan self gain\u2019. It was immoral to be indulgent, he pointed out, when
\nmost others all around were handicapped.<\/p>\n

He called on the school authorities to halt the construction of the
\nswimming pool and re-allocate the funds for the provision of basic
\nneeds of rural students. This was the first time JVP inspired-thinking
\non youth led revolution was beginning to spread like wild fire on
\nUniversity campuses and later in secondary schools.<\/p>\n

His essay distributed in the form of a pamphlet was titled, \u2018From the
\nstudents to the students of Royal College.\u2019 Some of his classmates
\nconvinced of the strength of his arguments assisted him in
\ndistributing the pamphlet among fellow students.<\/p>\n

The school authorities with the then Principal Bogoda Premaratne –
\nthough aware of the incident – made no attempt to interfere. The
\nstudent in question was not called to account for his opinion though
\nit went against the grain of institutional thinking and made both the
\nteaching staff and students sit up and think on the moral dimension of
\nthe plea. However another essay this student wrote subsequently
\nentitled \u2018Whither Royal College: Proposals for Reform in School
\nAdministration and Teaching\u2019 caught the eye of the Principal
\nPremaratne and he read out excerpts of this essay in front of the
\nentire school assembly sometime in October 1967. The Principal
\nundertook to implement some of the progressive ideas contained in the
\nessay.<\/p>\n

The problem with schools with roots in the British colonial period is
\nthat students are unfortunately brainwashed to place the school ahead
\nof the country. They are indoctrinated to look inward rather than
\noutward. They will wrap the school flag around themselves more readily
\nthan the national flag. They will sing the school song with a lusty
\ncheer and be found fishing for lyrics when singing the national
\nanthem. Our national cricketers provide a good illustration of this
\nexample.<\/p>\n

In the flux of school life at Royal College, the protest against the
\nconstruction of the school swimming pool and sharing resources with
\nrural students, went unheeded and was buried rapidly by the storm of
\nevents. However it left one prophetic vision embedded in an implied
\nmanner in the text – the coming uprising of rural youth dissatisfied
\nwith their lot. True to form, four years later, in 1971, the JVP led
\nyouth struck at the foundations of our state and society. The rest (to
\nuse a hackneyed clich\u00e9) is history.<\/p>\n

Reproduced below is the text of the essay:<\/p>\n

\u2018From the students to the students of Royal College.\u2019<\/p>\n

We have to close our minds against truth and our hearts against
\nsympathy to endure to enjoy the privileges that an unfair educational
\nsystem has placed upon us. We know from news -paper reports the
\ngeo-educational immorality of one part of the country being endowed
\nwith all facilities needed for a complete educational course, while
\nanother part of the country does not even get the basic facilities to
\nattain literal standard. We see with our own eyes the frustrations and
\nhardships the rural students put up with at neighboring institutions,
\nand we also hear with great sadness, the hard struggles most rural
\ninstitutions carry on for their day to day material existence. Thus
\nthe present inequality and unrest in the educational system, we must
\nconsider, as a tribute to the Britisher\u2019s work in Ceylon and not a
\nreproach.<\/p>\n

Never was a time when there was more need for hard thinking than in
\nthe present hour. We must learn to look at our lives against the whole
\nbackground of human existence. We must not try to decorate a small
\nroom while ignoring the conditions of the rest of the large house.
\nThis is exactly what we have been doing right throughout in the past.
\nWe have let ourselves to be influenced by the wind from the west \u2013 the
\nwind of impurity. We have lived in an atmosphere of a colonial
\ncreation. We have let ourselves live contentedly in the traditional
\nfabric of ideas congealed into forms, thus forgetting the fact that in
\nthe flux of life the past is not the present. Therefore it is no
\nwonder that we have got ourselves singularly isolated from the rest of
\nthe country. Now is the time to regain our originality and rectify our
\npast mistakes.<\/p>\n

Thus upholding the principle self sacrifice is more virtuous than
\nself gain\u201d, let us persuade the authorities in a peaceful manner, to
\ntake away some of the luxuries we have and donate it to the progress
\nof the country. We know very well that the swimming pool is one such
\nluxury. Therefore in a spirit of goodwill and self sacrifice, we who
\nhave enjoyed most privileges denied to others, must make it our firm
\nduty to plead with the authorities to immediately halt the
\nconstruction of the swimming pool and release all the funds collected,
\nfor the building up of some science laboratories in the rural
\ndistricts.<\/p>\n

This should be the first of our positive contributions we would make
\nto the development of the country and to the elevation of the
\neducational standards of our rural compatriots. The swimming pool
\ncould be completed at a later date when the educational system is much
\nmore stable. Culturally also we must make every endeavor to rid this
\nfair land of ours of all those dirty decadent western customs which
\nhas plagued the lives of some of our friends in the form of a
\nso-called Beat music\u201d. Purity of personal life is the basis of sound
\neducation\u201d. This should be our guiding motto.<\/p>\n

Progress in educational institutions we know is not marked by the
\nbuilding up of swimming pools or by the victories gained at cricket
\nmatches but by the positive attitudes the students adopt towards the
\nmisery surrounding them, the general stringency of life, and the
\ntortured lives submerged in the shadows. We also must remember that as
\nlong as we rely on our creative power, and hence trust and identity
\nour selves with all that in good and right, no power on earth would be
\nable to halt us progressing while on the other hand we would be able
\nto wipe out every obstacle and overcome every difficulty.<\/p>\n

Thus, let us march forward with the nation.<\/p>\n

Students of Royal College<\/p>\n

September 19, 1967<\/p>\n

P.S.<\/p>\n

Why are we not having any contact with the rural students either in
\nsports or any other extracurricular activities?<\/p>\n

Think for yourself. Then you will get the answer.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:\u00a0 Asian Tribune<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Janaka Perera As Sri Lanka\u2019s Royal College celebrates the 175th anniversary of its founding this year on a grand scale of pomp and pageantry that perhaps no other school in the country can match, it is a moot question to ask whether there are alternate voices from within or outside Royal College, that have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-janaka-perera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}