Nalanda College, Colombo


Nalanda College is a national school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The school was established by P. de S. Kularatne as an offshoot of Ananda College Colombo and was registered as a separate school on 1 November 1925.

History

In 1922 a section of Ananda College was moved to Campbell Place, Colombo on a proposal made by Patrick de Silva Kularatne, a leading Buddhist educationist of the time. L. H. Mettananda was appointed as principal of this institution which was called as Ananda branch. W. E. Fernando was the headmaster and Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Therea became its first Buddhist teacher.
In 1924 Kularatne has spent Rs. 5,500 to purchase a quarter acre of land close to the Campbell Place playground and built 16 class rooms for the new school. Governor Gregory Thompson laid the foundation stone for a building to have 16 class rooms. Out of 16 class rooms he has used two rooms for the principals office and staff members another two rooms for the laboratories and balance 12 rooms for the classes. Three hundred and thirty students of Ananda were transferred under L. H. Mettananda in 1924.
Kularatne was instrumental in getting the institution registered as a separate school on 1 November 1924. The new school was given its motto Apadana Sobhini Panna, and the school name Nalanda also proposed by Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero. The English and the Sinhala versions are "Character illumines Wisdom" and "Yahapath Charithayen Praggnawa Opanangwe" respectively. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thera has selected this motto from the Anguttara Nikaya, Tika Nipatha, Bala Waggo Lakkana Sutta.
On 1 January 1926 Kularatne appointed Dr. Gunapala Mallasekara as principal of the Nalanda College and transferred L. H. Metthanada to Ananda College as vice principal. Nalanda was fortunate in having its second principal, Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera. Malasekara launched several projects, making plans for the collection of funds for the construction of buildings, later commenced a bulletin titled "NALANDA". Also arranged 15-minute Buddhist talks at the daily students assembly and took many steps to promote the Buddhist environment in the school.
Kularatne laid the foundation stone for second building on 30 March 1926. By the end of 1926 the number of students had increased to 550. Later he borrowed money from Anagarika Dharmapala to purchase a land for primary section which was settled by Malasekara. The student assembly hall is named Malalasekara Theatre after him.

Evolution

The college is equipped with facilities such as science and computer laboratories, lecture halls, auditoriums, and hostels. The main medium of education at Nalanda is Sinhala while students have the option to select English from year seven onwards. Nalandians have excelled academically, achieving high grades at Ordinary Level and Advanced Level exams and also in sports.
In 2011 Nalandian students won first place in the world at the Oracle Thinkquest Application Development and first place for International Students Biotechnology Competition and the 14th International Convention on Students Quality Control Circles, held in Lucknow, India. Students of Nalanda College Colombo also have excelled in research activities. In 2017 a student of Research Forum won a silver medal for his research, Deposition of air pollutants on pollen grains and occurrence of respiration allergies among humans at the International Conference of Young Scientists in Germany, where Sri Lanka participated for the first time at the event as a competitive country.

Awards

At Nalanda College Colombo there are many endowed prizes and awards to felicitate its students who achieve immensely in education, sports and other extracurricular activities. Felicitation ceremonies are conducted each year.
Award recipients include: Kala Keerthi Dr Henry Jayasena, President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa, Diyawadana Nilame Pradeep Nilanga Dela Bandara, Sri Lanka Ranajana Dr Sarath Gunapala, Professor Chandana Jayaratne, Kuppiyawatta Bodhananda Thera, Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara, Professor Pathmajeewa Ganepola, Professor K. N. O. Dharmadasa, Air Chief Marshal Gagan Bulathsinghala, Air Chief Marshal Kapila Jayampathy, Air Marshal Sumangala Dias.

Clubs and societies

Nalanda College occupy a playground at Campbell Place, a modern sports complex, a modern squash court, swimming pool, shooting range and other sports facilities.
Ananda – Nalanda is played between Ananda College, Colombo and Nalanda College Colombo since 1924. Over the years Nalanda College has produced many world-famous cricketers such as Bandula Warnapura, Roshan Mahanama, Kumar Dharmasena, Mahela Jayawardena.

Principals

Notable teachers

Nalanda College has had a number of notable teachers in tutorial staff including: Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Mahanayake Thero, S. Mahinda, A. T. Ariyaratne, Edward Jayakody, Premasara Epasinghe, and Siri Perera

Alumni

Past students who have studied at Nalanda College Colombo are referred to as Old Nalandians.

War Memorial and remembrance

Each year students and alumni commemorate the loss of 41 brave alumni who died in the Sri Lankan civil war. A war memorial is situated between the main oldest buildings of the college.

Nalanda College Junior Old Boys Association

The Association is the alumni association for the college. Its objective is to enhance the interests of the college, past students and present students by maintaining relationships among alumni and with their alma mater. Each year the union organises many events such as Future Minds, Nalanda Walk, Olcott Memorial old boys cricket tourney, Ranaviru Upahara, etc.