Basilica College, Ragama is one of the youngest schools in the country to have made a prominent name in the sports arena especially at cricket. As at today, Basilica is an upper school with classes for students of above the sixth grade and has 1525 students in both genders.
It is the most popular school in the Ja-Ela division with the most number of students in attendance. Its primary school is governed by a different set of authorities at another location closer to the upper school which entertains most of the primary schools of the area.
The school was in existence since 1918 but was known as Ragama Maha Vidyalaya until 1993 when it was restored and renamed as Basilica College. P.N.D. Silva, the principal of Basilica for the past eight years has a rich knowledge of the institution as a past student who later got his appointment as a teacher and then as the head.
“I was in fact the first student from Ragama MV to enter university way back in 1975. Until then the talented students from Ragama MV had the habit of joining leading schools in the region or in the capital city of Colombo. But today there is a vast improvement of the situation,” Silva stated. According to Silva last year was Basilica’s best in their contribution to the higher education stream of the country. From the results of the 2010 G.C.E. Advance Level examination 97 students got eligible to enter universities of Sri Lanka. This was an outstanding achievement for Basilica in 18 years after it was reintroduced at its current location.
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| Manjula Vaas
(Cricket M-I-C) |
P.N.D. Silva (Principal) |
In addition girls and boys of Basilica who come from different walks of life combine their skills within the four walls of a classroom. Moreover the Roman Catholic institution was building a tradition unique to them under the founder principal Austin Silva.
But soon after his untimely retirement in 2002 the practices faded away as the school ran sans a head for a few months until the present principal took over in September 2003.
During the period of Austin Silva as the head of the school, Basilica developed a strong build up in cricket. With his retirement cricket affairs were much overlooked but a keen master-in-charge in Manjula Vaas kept the momentum going on.
“Cricket had developed to a commanding level and Basilica was considered as dark horses in school cricket before I came in. The previous principal had done a very good job in introducing and developing cricket to a very good level. But after his retirement Vaas’ untiring efforts kept the sport undying,” Silva added.
Presently cricket has redeveloped to be the main interest of the students at Basilica. It has become evident with their achievements of recent history. The cricketers of different age groups of Basilica have won All-Island championships at three occasions in addition to emerging as runners-up at an outing. In addition, they have won six tournaments in the district level.
Their most famous win came in the year 2007 when Basilica clinched the well-known Wesley 6s, the only annual six-a-side cricket tournament for schoolboys in the country organized by the Old Wesleyites Sports Club. “It was a big issue but we have an understanding set of parents who were keen to see Basilica cricket reach great heights. In a way it is great to earn that status as we don’t have a rich history in cricket. Cricket was introduced to Basilica in 1994 and I have been here looking into all matters pertaining ever since. I can certainly say that there has been a steady growth and it will only continue to rise,” Vaas, the M-I-C said. In addition to cricket Basilica has other sports such as Football, Volleyball, Karate, Netball and Elle.
Wrestling was introduced very recently and the school authorities are cautious to come out with all necessary basics to continue its growing. Boxing saw great promise at Basilica a few years ago but lack of a qualified coach prompted the sport to an untimely death. Apart from cricket only sports that have individual participation, such as Karate and Swimming has had the potential to reach the All-Island stage. Other sports suffer greatly due to lack of qualified coaches and facilities.
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The well brought up students maintain a strict code of discipline implemented by the school authorities whose ultimate motive is to see Basilica reach great heights in academic and extra curricular activities. The great support of the parents coupled up with the keen set of teachers work voluntarily but with immense enthusiasm is on the verge of lifting Basilica’s image as a leading school in the country. The school has an Old Boys’ Association which is very much at its embryo stage but they are very much active when it comes to a task with common interest.
The school authorities are significantly blessed by the presence of Ragama Cricket Club, a premier level cricket club in its proximity. Ragama CC has been a contributor to the development of Basilica cricket over the years and they have been constantly aiding financially to fund the coach’s salary during this period. The school in return makes room for the club to conduct their practice sessions for a week at their ground which has the possibility of conducting a premier cricket match. But the ground of the school is utilized by many in the area for other purposes causing hindrance to possible developments. “Volleyball is the next potential sport to reach dominance apart from cricket. We have plans to strengthen our athletic, football and swimming teams. But our only setback is the lack of coaches and failure to upgrade facilities due to various reasons.
At the moment we have only a coach for cricket and other sports are mainly looked after by the teachers-in-charge. We don’t have very big contributions at present but what we get is enough to keep us alive for the year. We need to change the situation and with the keen interest of the students who don’t need to be pushed into, Basilica can certainly become one of the leading sports schools of the country,” Silva detailed. |
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