Ranabima Royal College celebrates 26 years this month
View(s):A unique school stands on the grounds that routed the Portuguese army in 1839, making way for the supremacy of Rajasinghe II over the Kandyan Kingdom. This school is Ranabima Royal College in the Central Province. The college celebrated its 26th year of existence on March 2, this year.
This land for Ranabima Royal College was arranged by former President D. B. Wijetunge and the plans for the establishment of the college were done by the former Education Secretary Palitha Elkaduwa. Former Chief Minister W. P. B. Dissanayake also supported the plans for this college.
Chief Minister Dissanayake had been inundated with letters and interviews by parents who wanted their children to be enrolled in popular schools in the Central Province. He had to accommodate the children as some of them had not gone to school for nearly two years.
As a result Ranabima College was born 26 years ago. The plan was to set up a school with an entrance test for students in the Central Province. Students who had passed the grade five scholarships exams could take part in this exam.
To set up this school land was needed and the duo approached the former President D. B. Wijetunge. It was in his electorate that the land was situated. He readily made available the land, which was once the Gannoruwa Battlefield.
Then they set about the admissions, which was to call applications from areas of Kandy such as Matale, Dambulla, Nuwara Eliya, Katugastota, Teldeniya, Wattegama, Hatton, Gampola, and other areas where parents were clamoring to have their children enrolled in popular schools.
They then set about the selection and that was to have six classes; one for Muslim students, one for Tamil students and three for Sinhalese students according to the ethnic proportion of the Province. They also decided to have one class in the English medium.
They also made it a mandatory that each class should not exceed 40 pupils and today the numbers remain the same and the method of admission remains the same.
The first Principal of the school was Mr. Keerthiratne who later became Principal of Ananda College in Colombo.
Present Principal Col. Ranjith Rajapakse, who has vast experience as a school principal in Kandy, said that even today admittance is carried out on the first principle of an admission test.
Alumni from the school have become medical professionals, lawyers and high-ranking administrative professionals. The school has a strong Old Boys’ Association, which helps the school in a various ways, the principal said.
- L. B. Senaratne
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