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Katukurunda Teacher Training College alumni celebrate 50th anniversary at STF camp
Around 55 teacher trainees of 50 years ago, now around 78-80 years-old, who were teacher trainees at the Kaukurunda Training College, re-visited their old haunts at what is now the STF Training Camp last Sunday.
They were there on the invitation of ASP Chamath Gajaweera, Director of the STF Camp. Those present included retired school principals, directors of education, assistant directors of education, education officers and teachers in their late 70s and 80s.
Jayananda Lunuwila, Chairman of Old Teacher Trainees Association addressing the meeting.
Jayananda Lunuwila,a retired Deputy Director in Education, and the current Chairman of the Old Trainee Teachers Association, now in his seventies was the leader of the visiting group who found their old training college totally transformed into a military-style training school for the STF.
The visitors had eagerly awaited the opportunity of re-uniting with old friends and batch mates of 50 years ago and greeted each other warmly.
The celebration began with the hoisting of the national flag to the strains of the national anthem played by the STF band in attendance. Thereafter the STF flag was raised by the camp commandant and Jayananda Lunuwila, Chairman of the Old Teacher Trainees Association and ASP Gajaweera addressed the gathering.
The visitors were then taken around today’s military-style camp with armouries and other paraphernalia in what was a government teacher training college exactly 50 years ago.
The former teachers lamented that the old values of the country’s educational system were gone. “We didn’t sell education or run tuition classes. We loved the children we taught and infused good values, including spiritual, in them. But today those values are all gone,” they said.
The visitors were treated to lunch by the STF and entertained by the STF band. They were provided transport to Kalutara so that they could conveniently go to their homes.
Hoisting the national flag