| Thurstan College | |
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Thamaso Ma Jyothirgamaya
("Lead me from Darkness to Light") |
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| Location | |
| Colombo, Sri Lanka | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1950
College Day - 11th January |
| Founder | Reverend Father A. J. Thurstan |
| Principal | Mr. Y.A.N.D. Yapa |
| Gender | Boys |
| Colour(s) | Blue, Gold & Red
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| Website | www.thurstancollege.net |
Thurstan College is a public school in Colombo. It is a National School, i.e. it is controlled by the Central government as opposed to the Provincial Council and provides both primary and secondary education.
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Founded in 1950 and named the Senior Government School, it accommodated students of Royal Junior School who could not gain admission to Royal College Colombo. Thurstan College today has a student population of 2500. It is situated in Colombo 7, in the heart of the educational triangle of Sri Lanka with the University of Colombo and the Royal College Colombo as neighbors.
Students take examinations conducted by the Ministry of Education and proceed to universities and higher educational institutes in Sri Lanka and overseas. The facilities at college include science laboratories, computer laboratories and libraries.
The college has more than 30 clubs and societies.
Thurstan School began at the end of World War Two in the 1940s. It was started as a result of the free education concept brought by scholar and minister of education Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara. Thurstan School was introduced as an institution of technical education, started after political independence in Sri Lanka from British rule. On one side was the old Royal College Colombo established in 1835 and on the other side was the University of Colombo which was of established in 1922.
Reverend Father A. J. Thurstan started a private technical school in 1859 and maintained it out of his own funds. This institution had been an agricultural and multimedia technical training centre for many years but had to be closed down after a few years. In 1884 with the assistance of the British Government an agricultural school was started in the same place. There is evidence to show that around this agricultural school there had been a flourishing cinnamon cultivation, and today Colombo 7 is known as Cinnamon Gardens due to this cultivation. The agricultural school was started by the then Director of Education Mr. H. W. Green. In 1910 it was closed down.
There was a problem of space faced by Royal College and there was a need for another school for those students who could not gain admission to Royal. This problem went to then Premier D. S. Senanayake and he suggested to occupy the buildings left vacant due to the shift of the teacher training school to Maharagama.
A new school was opened by then Minister of Education by Major E. A. Nugawela on January 11, 1950 named as government Senior School at Thurstan road. There were 26 students who entered the grade one, to grade six 112 students were enrolled. There are all who failed to passed grade 5 at Royal College. The rationalist, Abraham Kovoor retired from the college in 1959, teaching botany.
The principal of the new school was Mr. D. E. A. Shokman. He introduced a house system for sports, student leadership (prefects), cadetting, and literary associations. He named the houses after the for directors of Education during British rule namely Denham, Macrey, Robison and Sandeman.
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DENHAM HOUSE |
MACRAE HOUSE |
ROBISON HOUSE |
SANDIMAN HOUSE |
Mr. D. E. A. Schokman - 11.01.1950 - 31.12.1955
Mr. M. D. Gunawardhana - 01.01.1956 - 17.01.1967
Mr. P. M. Jayathilaka - 01.02.1967 - 09.10.1969
Mr. S. Pandithasekera - 16.03.1970 - 30.04.1974
Mr. A. K. Waidyasekara - 02.05.1974 - 20.01.1978
Mr. P. S. Gunasekhara - 24.01.1978 - 31.12.1987
Mr. H. D. Herman Perera - 01.01.1988 - 20.10.1992
Mr. R.D.M.P. Weerathunga - 1992 - 28.08.2006
Mr. R.M Jayasekara - 2006 - 2008
Mr. W. Gunarathna - 2008 - 2010
Mr. D. Bandara - 2010
Mr. Y. A. N. D. Yapa - 2010 - Current
Thurstan has a Junior and Senior play ground, a swimming pool and tennis courts. Some of the sports played are
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CRICKET
Thurstan play Isipathana in their Annual Big Match. The match against Isipathana commenced in 1964 and was elevated to a big match status in 1968 and is now played for the Blackham Wijewardana Trophy. It has been played continuously annually except in 1971 when the insurgency broke out and the match had to be canceled. Thurstan lead the series 5 matches to 4 with the rest being drawn. Out of this 5 wins, 3 came in consecutive years 1990-92 when Thurstan had dream run.
In the Limited over series which commenced in 1981 where it is played for the W A de Silva Memorial Trophy, Isipathana lead Thurstan 13 matches to 11 and Thurstan had been successful in winning the last 7 matches in a trot.
The Mini big match is played for the P M Jayatillake Trophy while the under 15 match is played for the D D Jayasinghe Trophy.
RUGBY
Thurstan's rich and colorful rugby history is over 52 years old. History records that Thurstan began playing rugby in 1957. Thurstan was the second government school to take to rugby and from the inception started playing with all leading teams.
In addition to the “Abdul Jabar Trophy” which is played with the traditional rivals Isipathana two more annual encounters for the “Diyanesh Rajarathnam Memorial Trophy” in 1998 with Wesley College and “Graetian Gunawardhana Challenge Trophy” in 2001 with D.S.Senanayake College were added to the Thurstan rugby fixture.
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