Gothami Girls’ College Kandy is ready to face any challenge
View(s):Gothami Girls’ College is one of the leading Buddhist Colleges in Kandy, situated in the heart of Kandy Town which is the capital of the
The Principal, Mrs. K.H.M Dissanayaka
Central Province. The school is over looking Kandy Lake and is quite close to the sacred Temple of the Tooth.
The school was initiated in 1928 with two teachers and seven students as the result of the pioneering effort of Miss Augusta Chapman. At the beginning, the school was named Sinhala Mixed School on Gregory’s Road. Later in 1978 it was converted officially to a Buddhist school and was called Gothami Balika.
The building of the school was partly destroyed by a cyclone in 1978. Then the school was brought back to the present location after the construction of a three storeyed building.
College Logo
In 1978, the school flag, crest and the school song was launched. In 1985 G.C.E-(A/L) Arts stream and 1986 in G.C.E (A/L) Commerce stream were introduced. In 1992 another building was attached to the main building. Again in 1994 the school building was damaged by an earth slip.
Even though there were some minor earth slips in the recent past that brought some damage to buildings, affecting the education of the children, they were able to overcome all those difficulties with the help of the government and the untiring efforts of the principal, teachers and students of the school.
The school which had seven students on roll at its inception has increased to 1200 today. They are divided into three houses – Uthpala, Madara and Sewandi – and this system is primarily used for sporting events. The school has a well equipped computer unit with 24 computers, science lab, aesthetic units, a Western and Eastern music bands. They have brought honour to the college in many competitions.
Gothami Balika Vidyalaya Kandy
Altogether eight principals have served so far in the college. Under the guidance of all these past principals, the college has been able to achieve its targets in various aspects.
With proper administration and a tremendous effort from the present principal Mrs. K.H.M Dissanayaka, the College is progressing fast and has been showing their colours at all the public examination.
Gothami Girls’ College was enrolled in the Connecting Classrooms Programme under British Council in 2010 as one of the schools in the Kandy cluster to carry out collaborative projects with the schools in Durham cluster in UK. In 2013 they were
College Western Band
able to work with a new partner school in Birmingham (Arden School). Miss Samantha Ogrady is the teacher of Arden school, and coordinates the project activities. Mrs. A. Jayasinghe (ISA Coordinator) and Mrs. Thakshila Bandara are the teachers-in-charge of this programme. Recently they formed the “Connecting Classrooms Club” and they have planned to do eight curriculum based collaborative projects on different topics which cater to develop their students’ communication skills, make them aware of global issues and to gain
Debating Team
knowledge in different fields. The students of Gothami are working for the ISA (International Schools Award) 2014. The aim of Students’ involvement in international activities is to prepare the students as responsible global citizens. The present principal Mrs. K.H.M.Dissanayake is the key figure behind, encouraging the staff and the students.
Connecting Classrooms Club under British Council Schools Online Programme
To improve the oratory skills and general knowledge of students, they have formed several societies and clubs such as, Sinhala Literary Association, English Literary Association, Science Society, Buddhist Society, Drama Society, Environmental Society, Red Cross Society, Dancing Society, Music Society and the Debating Society. The debating team was formed to improve the oratory skills of children and they have participated in many schools debating competitions.
They were able to secure the first place in the Zonal Drum Beat competition recently. The students have brought credit to the college on several occasions securing first, second and third places by participating in competitions under the above societies. In 2012 they were able to conduct their college band competitions with the participation of almost all the leading schools in Kandy and it turned out to be very successful.
Table Tennis Team
Gothami students have participated in all Sinhala, Tamil and English Language competitions at the Zonal and district levels. One student was selected to participate in the All Island Sinhala language competition.
The college dancing troupe was awarded the second place at the zonal level girls’ group “Raban Dancing” and was able to participate in the All Island Drama and Dancing competitions for the said item. In 2012/2013 they secured first place in the Low-Country “Magul Bera” competition and qualified to participate in the All Island Dancing Competition.
Gothamians are good in sports as well. They bagged the second place at the seven-a-side hockey competition conducted by Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Kandy. The Table Tennis team was placed third at the C- Division Central Province U12 Table Tennis competition and was runners-up while winning the third place in Under 10 competition. All the students who participated for the Inter-School Chess Competition conducted by Sri-Lanka Chess Society held at Vihara Maha Devi Balika Vidyalaya , were able to reach the Two-Star and Three-Star levels.
The vision of Gothami Girls’ College is: “Guna nena sapiri diyaniyan sekaseema” inspires the students to abide by its meaning to face any challenges in the future.
- Sujitha Miranda