| Union College ஐக்கிய கல்லூரி |
|
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Tellippalai, Jaffna District, Northern Province, Sri Lanka | |
| Information | |
| School type | Public Provincial 1AB |
| Founded | 1816 |
| Founder | Rev Daniel Poor Rev. Edward Warren |
| School district | Valikaamam Education Zone |
| Authority | Northern Provincial Council |
| School number | 1013003 |
| Principal | S. Punniyaseelan |
| Deputy Principal | R. Shanmugeswaran |
| Teaching staff | 41 |
| Grades | 1-13 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Age range | 5-18 |
| Language | Tamil |
| School roll | 841 |
| Website | junioncollege.com |
Union College (UC) (Tamil: ஐக்கிய கல்லூரி) is a mixed public provincial school in Tellippalai, Sri Lanka.[1] Founded in 1816 by American missionaries, it is one of Sri Lanka's oldest schools.
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Rev. Samuel Newell, an American missionary, arrived in Jaffna peninsula on 7 September 1813 and occupied the Dutch Hall in Tellippalai, which at that time consisted of dilapidated and snake-infested structures dating back to the 16th century Portuguese Ceylon.[2] In the coming years Newell was joined by other American missionaries including Rev. Daniel Poor and Rev. Edward Warren.
In 1816 the American missionaries founded the American Ceylon Mission in Jaffna. The ACM established missions in other parts of the Jaffna peninsula including one in Vaddukoddai. The ACM established numerous schools on the peninsula. The first school established by the ACM was the Common Free School which was founded by Rev. Poor and Rev. Warren on 9 December 1816 in Dutch Hall, Tellippalai. It was the first English language school in northern Ceylon.
On 20 July 1818 the school was converted into the Family Boarding School with just 6 students. In 1824 girls from the boarding school were transferred to the newly founded girls boarding school at Uduvil. The school became a Preparatory School in 1825 and started admitting boys from other say schools. The school's fortunes suffered as the best academic boys were transferred to Batticotta Seminary.
The Anderson-Thompson Deputation of 1855 recommended that Tamil medium schools were the best for evangelical purposes and recommended that all its English schools be closed. The English medium school at Tellippalai did not function between 1856 and 1871. The Chellappa English School was founded in 1869 on the premises. In 1871 the Vaddukkoddai Tamil Theological and Training School was shifted to Tellippalai.
The school became "grant-in-aid school" in 1875. In 1878 the Tamil Theological department closed down. An Industrial Department was added to the school and the name changed to Tamil Industrial and Training School. The Chellappah English School was taken over by the American Mission in 1901 and renamed the American Mission English School.
In 1910 A. T. Thuraiappahpillai, principal of American Mission English School, renounced Christianity to return to Hinduism. He leaves the school and founds a school that would later become the Mahajana English High School. In 1916 the Tamil Training School moved to Kopay and renamed "Industrial and Primary School". The Industrial and Primary School was converted into Bilingual School in 1929. In 1939 the American Mission English School and the Bilingual School were amalgamated and renamed Tellippalai Union High School. On 7 October 1940 the school was renamed Tellippalai Union College. UC was elevated to Grade I school in 1947. Most private schools in Ceylon, including UC, were taken over by the government in 1960.