“Alumni Association has done yeoman service for national education”

Transport and Highways and Mass Media Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana stated that the Sri Jayewardenepura University Alumni Association over the years has done a great service not only for the university, but also for national education.

The Minister said that as a turning point in Sri Lankan free education, authorities were able to introduce the subject streams related to technology and as a result subjects such as Information Technology and Engineering Technology for science were newly added. He said that this effort may not have been possible without contribution from the Sri Jayewardenepura University Alumni Association.

The Minister stated this while addressing the Annual General Meeting of Sri Jayewardenepura University Alumni Association on Saturday at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.

The Minister speaking at the event further said: “Although the Vidyodaya University, founded by Ven. Hikkaduwe Sumangala Thera and Ven. Welvitiye Soratha Thera, gave quality education to many people, after leaving the university, its past students were not organized as a single organization. Because of that a large number of past students, including me, Mahinda Wijesekera and S.B. Dissanayake gathered at the Bandaranaike Hall and formed the Sri Jayewardenepura University Alumni Association.”

“At that time, the first President was Mahinda Wijesekera. Later, I acted as acting President after he was injured by a terrorist bomb. After that, it was handed over to W.K.H. Wegapitiya.

During this time, the association has done yeomen service to the university and national education. For one, Jayewardenepura did not have an engineering faculty. We together with other academics and the then Vice-Chancellor of the University Professor Sampath Amaratunga went to the house of the then Minister of Higher Education Lakshman Kiriella and negotiated to get an engineering faculty”.

“After that, as the Minister of Education, I introduced the stream of technology to the education system and students wanted technology education faculties in the universities. By that time, the Faculty of Technology of Jayewardenepura University had established Homagama Pitipana. The Faculty of Engineering was established in Mattegoda. After that, S.B. Dissanayake as the Minister of Sports gave a large sized swimming pool to the university. As the Trade and Commerce, I had arranged to give Rs. 300 million from the Mahapola fund for a large auditorium instead of the Bandaranaike Hall and set a date to lay the foundation stone.”

“At that time, students’ unions, including the JVP, protested my coming to the university to lay the foundation stone. Therefore, I am eternally indebted to the leaders of that student movement for their help. Because I took that money and built the Mahinda Rajapaksa College on a land in Homagama. Today there are 7,000 children there. There are 300 teachers. Last year. 763 students appeared for the OL examination. All of them qualified for AL classes. It is the largest secondary school in South Asia.”

“As active members of Alumni Association, we were able to hold various positions in various governments. Accordingly, I worked as the Minister of Education. S.B. Dissanayake served as the Minister of Higher Education. My secretary was Anura Dissanayake, a member of the association. Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne worked as the secretary of S.B. Dissanayake. Professor Abeyratne Bandara was appointed to our National Institute of Education”.

“Today, the most popular stream in this country is the Technology stream. Today, more than 5,000 students are enrolled in the university for the subject of Technology. It is a revolution in education. Therefore, the revolution in education is accepted as a high-quality revolution that suits the modern world of free education.

Apart from that, the Alumni members have been able to perform many activities related to the welfare of the students and their improvement. Now we have a duty and responsibility to hand over the association to a young and energetic new board of officers. Accordingly, a new board of officers has been appointed. We will support them today as well as in the past,” the Minister said.

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