ACHIEVEMENTS OF RATNAYAKE CENTRAL COLLEGE, WALALA

The establishment of the Central Colleges was the brainchild of Mr. CWW Kannangara. They were originally known as Madhya Maha Vidyalayas. The Maha Vidyalayas in close proximity to the Madhya Maha Vidyalayas were the feeder schools to the Madhya Maha Vidyalayas (MMV). The students who did well in their Senior School Certificate examination (SSC) were assigned places in the MMVs.

Some of these Central Colleges had hostel facilities for the students from far away places. In 1966 to feed the hostelers, the Government gave a grant of three ruppes per student to serve all three meals to each student! This I know as I was teaching for a short time at Talatuoya Central College and the meals were quite palatable.

The Walala Central College, located in Walala, Menikhinna and the Nugawela Central College were two of the first Central Colleges to be established in the Kandy District. Later Talatuoya Central College and Gampola Central Colleges were added to the list. Talatuoya, Walala and Nugawela Central Colleges in the 1950s and 1960s did not participate in any inter-school sports activities.

They had classes up to the University Entrance and that too only in the Arts stream. In 1959 when I gained admission to Peradeniya, there was one student each from Walala and Talatuoya while Nugawela had two, a male and a female. The student from Walala did exceptionally well and obtained a First Class in Sanskrit special and retired as a Secretary of a Ministry, while the male student from Nugawela obtained a Class in Economics and worked in the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

While I was at Talatuoya Central College I started hockey for the Under 17 and Under 19 teams. The school did not have a good playing field. What was available for practices was a ground of about twenty square yards with hardly any grass. Already, there was a football team coached by another teacher(Henry Jayaweera). Though the soccer team did not do well, the Under 17 hockey team that I had coached beat in their first match Nugawela Central, which had been playing hockey for some time. I am not sure how they fared later as I said goodbye to teaching to start a new career.

In recent times Walala Central has come into the limelight with the fantastic performances of their athletes. It is great news and a pride for Sri Lanka to see a young schoolgirl achieving such great heights in athletics and a Gold medal in the 800 meters event in an international competition beating much stronger built athletes. Tharushi Karunaratne achieved this feat at the Asian Games 2023 held in China breaking a 25-year old record.

The Walala athletes have also done well in the 90th all island John Tarbat competition in 2022 as well with the under 20 women’s relay team winning first place in the 400×4 relay event breaking the record with a timing of 3.57.86 mins. Walala Central was awarded the best overall performance in the women’s category.

Walala Central College has a cricket team with their big match being with Nugawela Central College. In addition, they have cadeting for both boys and girls with western cadet bands in both categories.

Some of the past students have done well in careers in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, armed forces and in the private sector. It has been a great achievement from its humble beginnings to be able to compete with other reputed schools in the island.

HM NISSANKA WARAKAULLE