Government Science College Matale
Encyclopedia
Government Science College, Matale ( GSC ) ( Sinhala : රජයේ විද්යා විද්යාලය ) is a mixed government secondary school
located in Matale
, Sri Lanka
. It is a well known school for its academic performances. Although it has about 50 years of history, it has become a prestigious academic institute in the country.
This simple sentence is the log entry made by Mr. Rathnasabapathy as the principal pertaining to the opening ceremony which does not show protocol of guest and pageantry. The first half decade of science college, truly reflects great personality of Mr. Rathnasabapathy and his dedication. He invested to promote educational and environmental conditions of the college.
Although there were many big schools in Matale district when Science College was started, facilitate higher education in science that were not available in those schools. Mr. V.T. Nanayakkara, then the member of parliament for Matale electorate, had seen this defeciency, made effect to fulfill it and he did. This school was not limited to students of Matale district, but cater for other districts such as Kandy, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Pollonnaruwa, Kegalle, Badulla and the most remote Jaffna district in the island. The students who studied here were not only Sinhalese but all other communities who live in Sri Lanka such as Tamil, Muslim and Burgher.
In 1954, there were only 40 students and two staff members at the beginning. The year ended with 90 students and 4 members of staff, making all staff members were Tamil.
In the decade of the seventies, the student population had been increased in to 250 and today it is over 500. At the first decade of the college history the principal and the staff made their untiring effort to take all the clever students to one vessel and push them to university. The result of this effort were to be seen when one goes through the past results of examinations. where number of medical and engineer students had been selected to university, revealing the dedication of the principal Mr. Rathnasabapathy and the staff.
It is revealed that there is no difference between home and office for Mr. Rathnasabapathy, when he works he cares not day and night even in vacation he doesn't go to Jaffna, but he works. He works somewhere in the college.
In the 1960s due to the government policy in the education system of teaching science in Sinhala and Tamil Mr. Rathnasabapathy had to go on transfer to jaffna. This was a turning point. The principal who succeeded in was Mr. H.R.P Rupasinghe who was very much interested in sports and introduced cricket to the school. This proved that students who were put on academic track excelled in sports too. They brought fame to school in cricket, hockey and netball.
After Mr. Rupasinghe Mr. E.P.W Helapitage Mr. H.D. Premawardana and Mr. A. Bopitiya served as principals and carried on their services for the benefit of the college. In the 1980s a past pupil of the college Mr. A Ekenayake took reign as the principal and he was succeeded by Mr. E.M.R.B Ekanayake and Mr. Godawitharane. During this period the department of education took a decision to do away with O/L classes and to accommodate only the advanced level classes making room for a large number of students to keep up with higher education.
From 1990 another very eminent past pupil Mr. G.K.W.K Ettipola was posted as the principal and he was successful in regaining the lost forms to the school. During his tenure he is being supported by a good number of past pupils as members of the staff, and it is a blessing that the rest of staff members extended their fullest corporation.
The college now has a very strong and supportive past pupils association which has its branches in Colombo, Anuradapura, and in Australia. They help the college in all her endeavors and watch the interests keenly both in academic and the sports fields.
Sri Lanka dharanee thalaye
pathuraa vidu nena lo pathale
karanemu guna gaayana obage
ran rathu alu paha gath dhaja sevene
sohoyuru premen ek sith badune
sisu kala sama sip sayurehi gilva
veera puthun oba janitha karannaaa
vidu viduhal maathaa sarade.......//
nawa lokayakata pera maga penwaa
sisu kala vidu nuwanin neth pahadaa
apa rata diyune peramuna gannaa
weera puthun oba janitha karannaa
vidu viduhal maathaa sarade.......//
In Sinhala letters
විදුහල් ගීය.
විදු විදුහල් මාතා සැරදේ
ශ්රී ලංකා ධරණී තලයේ
පතුරා විදු නැණ ලෝ පතලේ
කරනෙමු ගුණ ගායන ඔබගේ ..//
රන් රතු අලු පැහැ ගත් ධජ සෙවනේ
සොහොයුරු ප්රේමෙන් එක් සිත් බැඳුනේ
සිසු කැල සැම සිප් සයුරෙහි ගිල්වා
වීර පුතුන් ඔබ ජනිත කරන්නා
විදු විදුහල් මාතා සැරදේ ........//
නව ලෝකයකට පෙර මඟ පෙන්වා
සිසු කැල විදු නුවනින් නෙත් පහදා
අප රට දියුනේ පෙරමුණ ගන්නා
වීර පුතුන් ඔබ ජනිත කරන්නා
විදු විදුහල් මාතා සැරදේ ........//
(This song was originally composed by Mr. Thillekeratne, a teacher of GSC in late 1970's, on his way home from Colombo after an unsuccessful attempt to get it done by a renown song writer in Sri Lanka. At that time the song started as sarada vidu viduhal maathaa...)
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
located in Matale
Matale
Matale is a town in the hill country of Sri Lanka, from Colombo and from Kandy. It is an area steeped in history and village living. The mayor of Matale is Hilmy Careem, as of May, 2006....
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. It is a well known school for its academic performances. Although it has about 50 years of history, it has become a prestigious academic institute in the country.
Mission
The school's mission is to bestow perfect educational opportunities for the students who come seeking for help from Mother Science College, So as to create real patriotic citizens with knowledge skills and attitudes in turn to make them lead a realistic, desired and pleasant life.History
This school was inaugurated on 15 February 1954 with Mrs. Wimala Silva, Mr. S. Manual Pillai as staff members and Mr. S. Rathnasabapathy as the principal.This simple sentence is the log entry made by Mr. Rathnasabapathy as the principal pertaining to the opening ceremony which does not show protocol of guest and pageantry. The first half decade of science college, truly reflects great personality of Mr. Rathnasabapathy and his dedication. He invested to promote educational and environmental conditions of the college.
Although there were many big schools in Matale district when Science College was started, facilitate higher education in science that were not available in those schools. Mr. V.T. Nanayakkara, then the member of parliament for Matale electorate, had seen this defeciency, made effect to fulfill it and he did. This school was not limited to students of Matale district, but cater for other districts such as Kandy, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Pollonnaruwa, Kegalle, Badulla and the most remote Jaffna district in the island. The students who studied here were not only Sinhalese but all other communities who live in Sri Lanka such as Tamil, Muslim and Burgher.
In 1954, there were only 40 students and two staff members at the beginning. The year ended with 90 students and 4 members of staff, making all staff members were Tamil.
In the decade of the seventies, the student population had been increased in to 250 and today it is over 500. At the first decade of the college history the principal and the staff made their untiring effort to take all the clever students to one vessel and push them to university. The result of this effort were to be seen when one goes through the past results of examinations. where number of medical and engineer students had been selected to university, revealing the dedication of the principal Mr. Rathnasabapathy and the staff.
It is revealed that there is no difference between home and office for Mr. Rathnasabapathy, when he works he cares not day and night even in vacation he doesn't go to Jaffna, but he works. He works somewhere in the college.
In the 1960s due to the government policy in the education system of teaching science in Sinhala and Tamil Mr. Rathnasabapathy had to go on transfer to jaffna. This was a turning point. The principal who succeeded in was Mr. H.R.P Rupasinghe who was very much interested in sports and introduced cricket to the school. This proved that students who were put on academic track excelled in sports too. They brought fame to school in cricket, hockey and netball.
After Mr. Rupasinghe Mr. E.P.W Helapitage Mr. H.D. Premawardana and Mr. A. Bopitiya served as principals and carried on their services for the benefit of the college. In the 1980s a past pupil of the college Mr. A Ekenayake took reign as the principal and he was succeeded by Mr. E.M.R.B Ekanayake and Mr. Godawitharane. During this period the department of education took a decision to do away with O/L classes and to accommodate only the advanced level classes making room for a large number of students to keep up with higher education.
From 1990 another very eminent past pupil Mr. G.K.W.K Ettipola was posted as the principal and he was successful in regaining the lost forms to the school. During his tenure he is being supported by a good number of past pupils as members of the staff, and it is a blessing that the rest of staff members extended their fullest corporation.
The college now has a very strong and supportive past pupils association which has its branches in Colombo, Anuradapura, and in Australia. They help the college in all her endeavors and watch the interests keenly both in academic and the sports fields.
Notable Alumni
Here is a list of prominent past pupils of Science College (Please edit this list, add more names)- Upawansa Mapa - Former District Judge, Former Public Trustee and Former ambassador in Burma
- Prof.Gamini Tissa Seneviratne - Professor of Mathematics,Peradeniya University, Vice Chancellor/Kothalawala Defence Academy
- Dr Asoka Abeysinghe - Leading Eye Surgeon
- Wasantha Tennakoon - Rear Admiral/Chief of Staff - Sri Lanka Navy
- Nimal Fernando - Brigadier / Sri Lanka Army
- Nimal Weragama - Brigadier / Sri Lanka Army
- Prof. D.T.B. Tennakoon - Department of Chemistry/Peradeniya University
- Prof. Atula Senaratne - Department of Geology/Peradeniya University
- Prof. Sarath Seneviratne - Faculty of Engineering/Peradeniya University
- Prof. Gamini Herath - Deakin University,Melbourne
- Prof. Cyril Kariyawasam - Faculty of Engineering,Ruhuna University
- Brian Amunugama - Senior Superintendent/Srilanka Police
- Dr.Hemalatha Welgama(née Dissanayake)- Pediatrician
- N.Sangakkara - Deputy Surveyor General [Central Region]
- Udaya Seneviratne - Secretary,Ministry of Sports,Former Deputy Secretary to the treasury,Former Principal,Cooperative School/Polgolla
- G.T.Bandara - Managing Director/Royal Institute Colombo
- Shanthilal Wijesinghe - ex.District Judge
- Dr.Jayampathy Wickremaratne - President's Counsel/Expert on constitutional law
- Kusal Subasinghe - Director Code-Gen InternationalCodeGenCodeGen is a private limited company and has offices in London, United Kingdom and Colombo, Sri Lanka. CodeGen’s business interests are threefold. While giving more emphasize on travel industry CodeGen identified banking and online gaming as alternative interestsCodeGen was founded in 1999 by Mr...
[IT Firm]/Lawyer - Eng I.H.D.Sumanaratne - General Manager,RCDC
- D.Chandrawansa - DGM/Mahaveli Construction Authority
- Prof.Nihal Welgama - Medical Faculty Peradeniya/Rajarata
- G.K.W.K.Atipola - Principal Science College
- Upali Ekanayake - Srilanka representative of the Oriental Bird Club of England and a life member of the Ceylon Bird Club
- Wickrema Weragama - Former General Manager,Railways
- Dr.Sarath Hulangamuwe - Former Chief Engineer,Department of Agriculture
- Dr.Asoka Kobbekaduwe - Gynaecologist
- Dr.Raja Gunaratne - Anesthetist (New Zealand)
- Jayantha Bandara - Charted Accountant (New Zealand)
- Upali Dharmakeerthi - Charted Accountant (Australia)
- Ranjith Ekanayake - Former Senior Superintendent and acting DeputyCommissioer of Prisons
- Dr.Suraj Hindagolla - Senior R&D Project/program Manager at HewlettPackard,Corvallis,Oregon,USA [Holder of eleven Patent Rights]
- Viville Perera - Charted Accountant,Former Finance Manger,Lake House
- Dr Saman Amarakoon - Senior Scientist,Natural Resources,Canada
- Priyantha Peiris - Specialist in Nutriment and Food Science
- Senerath Siyambalangamuwe (Ticca) - First Cricket captain of Science College and the Managing Director of Kasun Enterprise/Nuggegoda
- Eng Upali Jayasinghe - Charted Engineer and the 1st secretary of the PPA of Science College
- Chandra(Hamangoda)Ubeysekara - Director Administration,Department of Agriculture
- Niroshana Ekanayake(1998) - Etihad Airways Abu-Dhabi
- A.C.K.Herath - Charted Engineer [Perth-Aus]
- Hemantha Dambadeniya - Former Chief Engineer,Srilanka Insurance Corporation
- Harischandra Ekanayake - Former Manager/HRM Nestle Lanka
- A.B.Uduwela - Former Investigation Manager [Ceylon Fertilizer Co.]Former GM/Thamankaduwa Agro Fertilizer Co.
- Parakrame Dassanayake - Former Manager,Uni Lever & Secretary Srilanka Bakery Association
- Samantha Kulatunge - Former Managing Director,Ceylinco Universal Group
- Premaratne Embogama - Principal,Sussex International School,Polgolla, Kandy
- Sunil Kandegedara - Director General, Inland Revenue Department
- Dr. Godaliyadda - Director General, Irrigation
- Dr. Ari Udagama- Dermatologist,California USA
- Dr.Gamini Premadasa, Dental Surgeon, Kuwait.
- Dr.Hemasiri Mawilmada, Surgeon, Kandy
- Dr.Janaka Marapana, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Kandy Hospital
- Dr. Dhammika Herath, DMO-Mathugama
- Dr Ranjani Wijekoon, Dental Surgeon, Kandy Hospital
- Dr. W.M.T.B.Wijekoon, Director, Teaching Hospital, Anuradhapura
- Major General Aruna Jayatilake, Sri lanka Army
Sports
- Cricket
- Netball
- Athletics
- Chess
- Past Cricket Captains of Science College
- 1962 - Senerath Siyambalangamuwe
- 1963 - Lional Eramudugolla
- 1964 - Samantha Kulatunge
- 1965 - A.B.Uduwela
- 1966 - A.C.K.Herath
- 1967 - Priyalal Ranaweera
- 1968 - Wasantha Tennakoon
- 1979 - Ajantha Silva
Clubs and Societies
- Science Society
- Buddhist Society
- Interact Club
Past Pupils' Association
The past pupils' association of Government Science College Matale has extended its maximum cooperation and dedication to the improvement of the school in all possible ways. Currently it has branches in Colombo, Anuradhapura and Australia. PPA Colombo branch launched its official web site, http://www.gscmataleppacol.org/http://www.gscmataleppacol.org/ on 1 March 2009.School Anthem
vidu viduhal maathaa saradeSri Lanka dharanee thalaye
pathuraa vidu nena lo pathale
karanemu guna gaayana obage
ran rathu alu paha gath dhaja sevene
sohoyuru premen ek sith badune
sisu kala sama sip sayurehi gilva
veera puthun oba janitha karannaaa
vidu viduhal maathaa sarade.......//
nawa lokayakata pera maga penwaa
sisu kala vidu nuwanin neth pahadaa
apa rata diyune peramuna gannaa
weera puthun oba janitha karannaa
vidu viduhal maathaa sarade.......//
In Sinhala letters
විදුහල් ගීය.
විදු විදුහල් මාතා සැරදේ
ශ්රී ලංකා ධරණී තලයේ
පතුරා විදු නැණ ලෝ පතලේ
කරනෙමු ගුණ ගායන ඔබගේ ..//
රන් රතු අලු පැහැ ගත් ධජ සෙවනේ
සොහොයුරු ප්රේමෙන් එක් සිත් බැඳුනේ
සිසු කැල සැම සිප් සයුරෙහි ගිල්වා
වීර පුතුන් ඔබ ජනිත කරන්නා
විදු විදුහල් මාතා සැරදේ ........//
නව ලෝකයකට පෙර මඟ පෙන්වා
සිසු කැල විදු නුවනින් නෙත් පහදා
අප රට දියුනේ පෙරමුණ ගන්නා
වීර පුතුන් ඔබ ජනිත කරන්නා
විදු විදුහල් මාතා සැරදේ ........//
(This song was originally composed by Mr. Thillekeratne, a teacher of GSC in late 1970's, on his way home from Colombo after an unsuccessful attempt to get it done by a renown song writer in Sri Lanka. At that time the song started as sarada vidu viduhal maathaa...)
Principals
- S. Ratnasabhapathy (1954–1960)
- H. R. P. Rupasinghe (1960–1964)
- E. P. W. Helapitage (1964–1967)
- H. D. E. Premawardhana (1967–1969)
- A. Bopitiya (1969–1970)
- L. M. Perera (1970–1972)
- C. A. S. B. Silva (1972–1973)
- L. M. Perera (1973–1976)
- K. B. Weragama (1976–1980)
- A. Ekanayake (1980–1981)
- R. B. Ekanayake (1981–1985)
- A. H. Godawitharana
- A. Ekanayake (1986–1990)
- G. K. W. K. Atipola (1990 to present)
References
- Brochure published for 50th anniversary of Science College (2004)
- http://www.gscmatale.sch.lk/
- http://sciencecollege.net23.net/?q=node/6