Harischandra College in Negombo is a leading educational institute that has an immense talent factory in sports. But in contrast the school could be considered as one of the most unluckiest. They lack the basic facilities but are gifted with talent and unfortunately the school hardly gets the opportunity to enjoy the dividends from its own athletes.
 The crème of their talent upon reaching the pinnacle is grabbed by other schools that get the opportunity to enjoy the hard work and sweat of officials at Harischandra. To date Harischandra has lost many such potential stars in the sports field. Many have reached the national level and have even gone beyond to the international arena but as proud past pupils of other schools. This has been setback for Harischandra in different fields of sports such as cricket, athletics, football or swimming.
Not possessing facilities such as a suitable ground, qualified coaches and most of all a clean environment is a major factor that leads them into a backward journey. But these points are presently being targeted by the schools officials who are highly keen to look for remedies. D.D. Keerthi de Alwis, the principal of Harischandra for over a decade now, attributed the development of the school during his period.
 “We have earned a very good reputation as a leading sporting school in Negombo. Our teachers and students have helped the school achieve this feat in numerous fields, extra and co-curricular. But unfortunately we don’t fully get to benefit the joy. The school had tougher days at the beginning and though the days are different we still face the similar setbacks,” de Alwis said.
The beginning of Harischandra College occurred in 1941 when a group of dignitaries of Negombo established a school in memory of Walisinghe Harischandra, a reformist, historian and author who hailed from the area. This was the first Buddhist school in Negombo to be initiated in English medium. Then just five students attended the school which was housed under temporary shelter. With contributions from various well-wishers Harischandra grew to be a dominant force as a strong educational institution which valued academic and extra curricular activities alike.
On November 4 this year, Harischandra College celebrated its 70th anniversary. By this time the school has expanded with 25 new buildings which came in time to time on its present extent of five acres. A total of 4672 students of both genders are being educated by over 150 teachers who are as keen on the school and close to the children as close relatives.
At Harischandra over 1000 students engage in 14 different sports disciplines. Cricket and athletics are their main cradle while volleyball, football, chess, karate, swimming, netball, cycling, body building, wrestling, rugby, gymnastics and carrom are other sports available. Apart from cricket other sports incidentally are being conducted sans coaches, which is a major drawback. However these sports are divided among five enthusiastic teachers who nurture the respective athletes to their greatest capacity.
D.A.I. Amarasinghe, Sepala Kumaradasa, Nadeeka Kalhari, Subhani Munasinghe and Ravindra Ruparatne are the five teachers from Harischandra who engage in a dual role, as coach and as teacher-in-charge. Amarasinghe, who is the prefect of games, is in charge of cricket and coaches boy’s volleyball and cadetting. Kumaradasa is an expert in athletics and his broad knowledge fulfils the vacuumed position of a coach. Kalhari and Munasinghe are in-charge of girls’ games such as volleyball and netball. They do a priceless task in uplifting the talents of the girls in the school.
 Rupasinghe who is also a past student of Harischandra trains the newly-formed wrestling squad who are progressing rapidly. He gets the assistance of Kumaradasa in this endeavor. Harischandra is fortunate to have teachers of this nature and a principal who is keen to uplift the standards of sports despite greater difficulties.
“Our cricketers of all age groups are going great guns at all-island level. Last year our juniors emerged champions and one of our players qualified for the Under-17 Sri Lanka squad. Our girls won the zonal championship last year. We achieved all these without a proper ground. If you look at the state of the ground it is not in a position for use of children. The ground has no grass at all and is very dusty,” said Amarasinghe.
Volleyball, chess, swimming, cycling and body building are other sports on the rise at Harischandra. Wrestling which was introduced in 2005 is the sport that is in the stature at Harischandra at the moment. However the athletes undergo training with great difficulty, moving places within the premises depending on the availability of space.
“Our wrestlers are highly skilled. We won the overall runner-up title in the National Wrestling Cadet Championship last year from 35 schools in the island. We fielded eight athletes and all of them managed to place among top three at this event. Two from the squad even qualified for the Asian Wrestling Cadet Championship in Thailand. Our principal gives us his strongest backing but due to various reasons, such as lack of proper place and other facilities, we are still behind the required level,” Rupasinghe explained on wrestling.
The two lady teachers Kalhari and Munasinghe pointed out that most girls from the school are eager to take up sports but still there are reasons to pull them back. “If you look at the amount of dust that creates from the ground not even an ordinary student would like to play there during their breaks. It’s one of the major problems that are being faced presently. Our volleyball and netball players always top at zonal level but we are not in a position to reach beyond because other schools snatch our best players. In addition we do not have coaches for many sports here and had we experts our outcomes would better than at present”.
Kumaradasa who is an expert in track and field events shared the same overview but related the possible impact that could be faced if the trend continues. “Higher officials should make sure the regulations that are available currently are implemented in the proper manner. Yes, most of the talented athletes at Harischandra are from poor family backgrounds but others should take it for granted. As a national school we have limited resources than popular or private schools. That may be a drawback for us as a national school but we too deserve the opportunities of reaching the national level with our set of talented athletes. We sincerely hope for the best of our children’s future but this is not the way. If this trend continues sports activities will be limited to a handful of schools in the country and schools like Harischandra will fade away from the arena,” Kumaradasa was serious in his comments.
The principal, de Alwis in contrast was optimistic that matters could settle with the tide of time. During his tenure, de Alwis has been quite straightforward in his approach to help Harischandra achieve the level it deserves in school sports, despite being held back by diverse quandaries. Through these years de Alwis has been delicate to generate the interest of the students, teachers, parents, well-wishers and contributors from the area. With his vision Harischandra reserves a considerably reasonable amount for sports from its annual budget while seeking assistance from the Past Pupils’ Association (PPA) when needs arise. He spearheads all students, teachers and parents to conduct events which in return help Harischandra generate revenue for needful purposes. De Alwis hopes to streamline all activities at the school in all aspects.
“If one looks at Harischandra today, it’s an improved school than two decades ago. There are many shortcomings but we have managed to identify the loopholes in order to make the school more efficient. The ground, few years ago was a slum but with the help of many, we managed to condition it to a state where it could be converted to a ground. In the near future we hope to fill the ground with grass and make it suitable for all sports. We do have other problems which need to be sorted out. There are individuals and institutions that are always helpful to us including the Ministry of Education, parents and the PPA. We expect more support from them in the future as we attempt to expand our facilities for athletes in an effective way. We also have plans to develop each sport through different channels of the PPA and other sources, so we will be able to retain our talents here at Harischandra and reach more heights,” de Alwis explained. |
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