Sujatha Vidyalaya
| Sujatha Vidyalaya | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location | |
|
Matara Sri Lanka |
|
| Information | |
| Type | All-Girls government school, started as private Buddhist |
| Motto |
Dalham Pagganha Weeryam (Pali for “Try Hard”) |
| Established | 1929 |
| Principal | Mrs. Miyulasi Hemanthimala Wanigasinghe |
| Grades | 1–13 |
| Number of students | Over 6000 |
| Color(s) |
Blue and Gold |
| Affiliation | Matara Buddhists' Society (1929) |
| Website | sujathavidyalaya.org |
Sujatha Vidyalaya is a girls' school in Sri Lanka. Located in the Matara District - Sri Lanka's southernmost district.
The school was established as a private Buddhist school by the Matara Buddhists' Society in 1929.
Sujatha Vidyalaya is one of the oldest Buddhists' schools in Sri Lanka. Sujatha Vidyalaya is now run by the Government of Sri Lanka, and is a National School. Sujatha Vidyalaya was a school of the first group of schools to be converted as a National School.
Sujatha Vidyalaya has two sections - primary and secondary. Sujatha Vidyalaya Primary serves students from Grade 1 to Grade 5 and Sujatha Vidyalaya serves students from Grade 6 to Grade 13.
In Matara at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a large population of Buddhists, and English education was the fashion. The Matara Buddhist Society took a main role in providing that English education. The energetic co-Secretary of the society, Mr. Vilmot P. Wijethunga, proposed the necessity of an English education institute as a thought. As a result, Dr. V.D. Gunarathna had taken a main role to establishing that proposal.C.A. Ariyathilake, second son of Matara's leading businessman C.A. Odiris de Silva, donated the present land to the establishment of the school to the government.
On 1929 May full moon Poya day, the school was inaugurated with Mr. V.D. Gunarathna, who was the president of the Matara Buddhist Society, as the director.
At the start Sujatha Vidyalaya was a mere sapling of a school when compared to what it has grown to today. In the 70 years since its inception, it has become one of the leading girls schools in the south of the country.
Prior to the school shifting to its present site, it was located on a piece of flat coconut plantation at the junctions bordered by the Hakmana Road leading to Veragampita, which is now occupied by the Department of Agriculture. This land belonged to a to Dr. Gunarathna, president of Matara Buddhist society.
The old building contained the school office, the 3 upper school classes, a small hall, a hostel for the senior girls, and another hostel for the juniors. There were two other semi-permanent structures, which housed the primary section. They had cemented floors, walls made of planks and roofs thatched with cadjan.
Unlike today, boys under 10 years were admitted to the school and were allowed to remain at this school only till they were 10 years old. At the beginning, there were 36 students and the teaching staff consisted of 4. All the students and teachers were Buddhist.
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