October 1995
From feedback that we get, the memoirs of our three Vice Patrons which appeared in the last three issues, have gone down well with readers not only in Victoria and inter-state but also in Sri Lanka. These articles gave us an inkling of our school life in the 1920', 30's and 40's.
This issue gives the reminiscences of our past President, Mr R.Jeganathan and Bala Rajadurai which will give readers an insight into Johnian life in the 1950's and 60's. In the next issue we hope to cover the seventies with an article by Preman Rajadurai. Going through this series of articles, one can see the development of St John's from being a very good Jaffna school to a prestigious All Island college.
But above all, one can wallow in a sea of nostalgia, as one remembers one's own schooldays during one of the decades recounted in our newsletter. The Editor invites other readers also to contribute articles for publication in the "The Johnian".
Vaithi Tissainayagam
Editor
Nothing in Life is to be feared.
It is only to be understood
(Marie Cunet)
By
Richard Jeganathan
When I first entered St. John's from the neighbouring Tamil School in the early '50s, I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty and vastness of the college. It was like arriving from Colombo to Melbourne. The beautiful grounds, the well maintained science block and the huge Williams Hall were very impressive. In those days when Old Park Road gate was the main entrance, Old Park Road would be packed with boys and girls, just before 8.45 am and just after 3.45 pm, so much so that cars found it difficult to get through. Some of the boys treated the 01d Park and the neighbouring houses as extensions of St John's. They would throw stones at any house having "navat palam", "kodang kai". "villankai", and mangoes. Even the sourest raw fruit had lot of demand in the classrooms. There were some students who would supply salt to make it a two course snack. Of course, the short boundary wall of Old Park was very tempting and I have not heard of any boy not having jumped the wall.
There were also very scary places like the graveyard next to our classrooms and the smelly set of drinking water taps near the science laboratories and next to the grounds. The graveyard later became less scary as, first my grandfather and later my father were buried there.
I was also scared of Chinniah who used to be our first aid man. Boys used to call him, " Dr Kill". During my time boys were also terrified of Mr James, Mr Gunaratnam, Mr Eliathamby and Mr Anantharajah. I knew Mr James before I joined St John's. His way of punishing boys was to whack them with the rope in which he had his whistle. The first thing he did as a new teacher was to inspect our finger nails. Being short, I immediately hid myself among the boys and soon joined the inspected side. Boys with dirty finger nails were punished with his rope. When he finished the inspection I was very happy. But this happiness did not last long. Soon he remembered that he had not inspected me and I ended up with some, bonus whacking as well. Although we were scared of these gentlemen they were all helpful at latter stages with their advice.
As I lived very close to St John's I used to be in and out of the school on Saturdays and holidays. Some of the Teachers used to ask me to buy them cigarettes occasionally. At times we used to play rounders or cricket with some teachers. Sometimes I spent more time at School than at home. I enjoyed the whole time I spent at St John's. But there are four things which stand out in my memories of our 'alma mater'. First is the cricket season which culminates with the big match against Central College. Second is the prize giving, because the preparation for this function ended up in cancellation of regular classes for singing practices. During this time the middle school boys ended up at home, Old Park or at the beach fishing. The upper school boys ended up at home, Thurairajah Kadai or at the Regal Theatre. The singing of the College Hymn "Mid the shadows ..." and the College song "Decked with shady..." was always well done by the boys. The third enjoyable time was the period between end of examination time and end of term. This was the time we had our cricket and soccer matches. Sometimes we would travel to the Forest Department area to play our matches. Fourthly the rainy days in December were enjoyable for the grade 4's and the 5's. Our grounds looked like a pond during the heavy rainy days and the boys enjoyed their walk through the 'pond'. Later the grounds were levelled and the 'ponding effect' was stopped Sometimes if it was really pouring we would get a half day. Of course if we have half days we would end up having school on Saturdays.
During my career at St. John's, we had three principals. When I joined College, the Principal was Rev. J. T. Arulanantham. I had only one encounter with JT as he was called then. I was sent to him by Mr Karunanathan, who was teaching me Scripture at that time, to explain why I did not attend the Evening Chapel Service the previous Sunday. We were very familiar with Mrs Arulanantham who used to direct our plays and dramas. We used to have the rehearsals at the Principal Bungalow. This brought us very close to the kodankai and the Willard mango trees. The second Principal we had was Mr P.T. Mathai. Mr Mathai was very well respected by the boys. He was the only Principal who used the bicycle to travel the distance between the Principal's Bungalow and the Office. He was also an author of a book of Mathematics. The third Principal was Mr A .W. Rajasekeram whom I was very familiar with because I was a senior student during his time as Principal. His advice to the Prefects at that time was, "If gold rusts what shall iron do'. Mr Rajasekeram took St John's through a difficult period of take over of schools and the sathyagraham at the Kachcheri in which some of our boys were involved. I still remember my friends Rajasingam ( a great gully fieldsman and a superb goal keeper), Gnanalingam and others falling in front of a Police Jeep in which A .S. P. Van Twest was being driven.
St John's was always respected for its high standard of education. It is said in Ceylon wherever you go there will be a Doctor, Engineer or an Accountant who will be an 01d Johnian. The educational success of St John's was brought about due to the good teachers, hard working students and the high level of discipline maintained within the School. The 1959 students who sat the H.S.C Examination gave the school the best results during my time. I can still picture the page 3 of the the Ceylon Daily News giving a long list of the Johnians who were successful. Although our School had always been one of the leading schools in Ceylon, that year we became the outright leading school in the Island. We had the most students entering the university that year. It is very difficult to give a rating as to who would have been the best student during my time. I would select Iswarakaanthan who entered Medical College with a scholarship in 1960. 1 also rate very highly students who did more than one sport and then entered University. In this category you will have students like brothers Balakrishnan and Anandakrishnan, Tissanayagam brothers, Sivananthan, Selvadurai, Varnalingam, Kanagathurai and Deivendra. If there was a contest for the best allround student in the College's history I would choose Balakrishnan. He was a Senior Prefect, played cricket and soccer, entered Medical college and then as an Old Boy played cricket for Ceylon. His score of 50 against the Australians, which he made as an opener, was a great innings against a bowling attack led by Graham McKenzie. I consider myself privileged to have played under Balakrishnan in 1961.
The Captains of cricket, soccer and athletics appointed by our school are well respected by the students. Once a captain is appointed he automatically becomes a prefect. Thus great sportsmen in year 10 have a chance of entering the Prefect Body for which normally only the HSC students are considered. The cricket Captains during my time included Thevanayagam (1950-S I), Canaganayagam(1952-53),Mahalingam (1954), Maurice(1955),Navaratnam(1956),Tissanayagam(1957-58),Paramalingam(1959), Balakrishnan (1960-61),Selvanayagam(1962) and Selvadura(1963). The soccer Captains were Segarajasinghe (1950), Shunmuganathan(1951), Sivapran 1952, Yogaratnam(1953), Dharmavarathan (1954), Urudhiran (1955), Ganesasundaram (1956), Rasanayagam (1957), Paramalingam (1958-59),Arumugam(1960),Rajasingam (1961). The athletic Captains were Ganesh (1951), Canaganayagam(1952), Mahalingam (1953), Mylwaganam (1954), Shunmugaligam (1955), Paramalingam (1957), Yogacumaran (1958), Varnalingam (1959-62) and Selvadurai (1963).
The highest office a student can attain is to become the Senior Prefect of the School. In schools in Melbourne a similar position is called School Captain. At St. John's, the Senior Prefect was respected in the same way as a member of staff. He has his own private room in the School as well as many other privileges. During my time the Senior Prefects were: Ratnesar(1951), Benjamin (1952),Yogaratnam(1953), Dharmavarathan (1954), Maurice(1955), Tissanayagam (1956), Sivasubramaniam (1957), Reginald(1958), Karunakaran (1959),Periyaswami (1959). Balakrishnan (1960), Sivashanmugam (1961) and Varnalingam (1962).
When do we stop thinking about St. John's ? Is it after we leave school? Or is it after we get a vocation. We should never stop thinking about St John's. We should always cherish the lessons we learnt, the friends we made and the unforgettable times we had in one of the finest learning institutions in Ceylon.
By
Bala Rajadurai
( Old Boy 1958 to 1968)
GENERAL
The early sixties presented St John's with the greatest of challenges of all time, eventually(from mid sixties) enabling the school to reach a milestone. Many other institutions in the north would never have dared such a thought. The Old Boy's Association of St John s, together with the Principal, Staff, Parents and well wishers embarked on a fund raising task successfully, to establish St John's College Jaffna as a PRIVATE NON-FEE LEVYING SCHOOL
The Principal Mr A.W Rajasekaram and the Vice Principal Mr J.T Chelliah, both old boys and staff of the school for more than a decade, had taken their challenging roles just before the year clacked 1960. This versatile combination continued through most of the sixties, taking the school swiftly during its turbulent times, until in late 1966, the Principal had to retire due to ill health. Early 1967 saw St John's being appointed, with a new Principal, in Mr K Pooranampillai, one of the most sought after administrators in Sri Lanka. KP, as he was known to many, all of whom admired his gentle but firm approach, was known for his proven ability in administration, which held his former school, Hartley College in high esteem for a few decades. The KP /J.T combination took St John's well into 70's with resounding success in almost all aspects.
When one reviews the sixties, it will be noted that St John's continued to maintain its high standards in the academic arena and also moved into top position in the field of sports, not only within the Northern borders, but also in the whole of Sri Lanka, both at university and national levels.
The end of the sixties saw St John's on a firm financial footing and the decade which started with an uphill task to remain as a private school, ended on a happy note. The school's take-over bid by the government was one of the gravest faced and overcome by St John's and many thanks are due to the OBA led by Dr A.V.A Vethanayagam, Mr S.J. Gunasegaram, Mr S Kanagaratnam, Mr RE Rajanayagam, Mr William Mather, Mr J.T.R Perinpanayagam, Mr C.A.W Edwards, Mr Paul Lewis, Mr P.T Sivapragasam and Mr E R Vannithamby, the "never say die" staff of the school and the generous parents and well wishers.
ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE ACADEMIC ARENA
The academic standards of a school is judged by the number of students it sends to the university every year and every parent awaits anxiously for this moment, as their child's school career draws the curtain. The persevering and hardworking parents in the north, who had sent their kids to St John's, would have nothing to regret when one glances through the performance of St John's at University Entrance exams as listed below:
|
Year |
Medicine/ Dental |
Engineering |
Sciences |
Arts |
Agric/Vet |
Total |
|
1960 |
30 |
3 |
13 |
7 |
4 |
57 |
|
1961 |
6 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
17 |
|
1962 |
15 |
6 |
10 |
- |
- |
31 |
|
1963 |
15 |
4 |
6 |
2 |
|
29 |
|
1964 |
8 |
6 |
8 |
3 |
2 |
27 |
|
1965 |
11 |
4 |
15 |
|
|
30 |
|
1966 |
8 |
5 |
9 |
2 |
3 |
27 |
|
1967 |
6 |
9 |
9 |
4 |
2 |
30 |
1968 & 1969 results are not available at this time
It is worthwhile noting that in 1960 and 1967 St John's sent the largest number of students in the whole island for medicine and engineering respectively. In 1960, S Easwarakanthan won the University Scholarship and the R.J.J Scholarship on the results of the combined Preliminary and Ist M.B exam. Based on the 1964 AL results, EJ Jebarajah and Shantha Somasundaram won Engineering Scholarships to West Germany and Japan respectively, while D.P Moothathamby clinched 2nd place in the English Essay Competition held by the Industrial Exhibition, which was open to all schools in the island. D.P also graduated with 2nd class Hons in Dentistry. P Naganathan who entered the Engineering Faculty in 1966, graduated with a Ist class degree in Civil Engineering in 1970 and K Jeyapalan, who entered the faculty in 1968, completed with a I st class degree in Civil Engineering, topping the batch. In the same year, C Sivendran and B. Rajadurai completed their engineering degree with 2nd class Hons. In the previous year, two other Johnians, P.Karunaharan and M.Sekar kept the flag flying in the Engineering faculty with 2nd class Hons in the finals.
Rajan Rasiah(1965) and V Manoharan(1971) from the Colombo Medical Faculty and M Muttiah(1973) from the Peradeniya Medical Faculty concluded their undergraduate careers with 2nd class Hons. G Jeyakumar (known as Barry ), was one of the few, who entered the Faculty of Law and obtained his Law Degree from St John's. After having a short practice with a famous criminal lawyer, Barry was appointed as a State Counsel/Crown Counsel, a prestigious appointment. He continued in that position until he established his own practice.
R J Jeganathan, based on his performances in the A.L results in 1967, won a scholarship to India to do a degree in Textile Engineering, wha on his return was appointed Mills Manger for Asian Cotton Mills in Mt Lavinia.
CRICKET
The standard of cricket reached by Johnians in the late 50's, specially due to the performances of the Tissainayagam brothers and the Lingam brothers was definitely not an easy task to even level with. The 1960 cricket team, although included stalwarts like the work horse S.S Shanmugarajah, the wily leg spinner A.l Somanader, the stylish wicket keeper RCS (Ranjit) Cooke and C Balakrishnan,( Bala represented Sri Lanka later), had to settle for a fair season with only 3 wins out of 6 games. The lull followed into the next year too, when our cricket team under C. Balakrishnan had to be happy with only I match for the season, the famous SATYAGRAHA taking precedence.
St John's were on a team building process in 1963 with youngsters and among a star studded bunch which included D.M Selvanayagam, DJ.N Selvadurai, K. Varunalingam, P.Kanagathurai, M.Theivendra, Ravi Thambiayah, RJ Jeganathan and C Anandakrishnan, there emerged a Champion in M Theivendra, who was barely out of his teens and going to toke the cricket loving public of the north by storm with his cricketing skills for the next 7 years, captaining the St John's and the Jaffna Combined School's teams twice each and easily the best cricketer and even the best sportsman St John's ever produced. Former English Test Cricketer, who was on a coaching mission in Sri Lanka described Theivendra as a Gary Sabers of Sri Lanka and stated to the press categorically that the best school boy cricketer of Ceylon hails from the north. Theive won the best school boy cricketer of the north award twice in his illustrious career.
As these youngsters were widening their shoulders in the next year, although the performance of St John's, as a whole in cricket didn't reach expected heights, Theivendra's supremacy was opening up. St John's was still voted the best school side in the north. The coveted Northern Schools schoolboy cricketer award and the best batsman's award were won by Theivendra and Ravi Thambiayah respectively. The combined Jaffna school's team had 4 Johnians in it.
The 1964 team captained by M Theivendra although was an unbeaten side, the limelight of the season was the many outstanding achievements of Theivendra, who won the best schoolboy cricketer, the best batsman and the best all rounder awards sponsored by the Daily News Publishing Group. Jeya Vyravipillai, a freshman in the side who had captained the 2nd eleven team the previous year, also established himself as an up and coming allrounder with his purposeful middle order batting, cunning spinners and his brilliance in fielding at short leg. Representing the Jaffna School's combined team against an All Australian School's team captained by Test Cricketer Graham Yallop, Vyra scored a beautiful half century ,confirming his class.
1965 cricket team under the leadership of P.Kanagathurai as Theivendra stepped dawn far a year, was probably the best performed team in the history of St John's. St John's had won 9 out of the 10 matches played that year, including the Big Match and the prestigious Royal College which included great names like Macan Markar, Thalayasingam, Skandakumar and Wilson. Victory in the 10th match (Nalanda ) was only missed by a hairpin when the match ended in an interesting draw with 12 runs to be scored by St John's and 4 wickets still left. This team also defeated a Combined All Batticaloa Combined Schools Cricket Team by an innings and 238 runs. 4 Johnian's played in the combined Jaffna School's team. 1966 team was back in Theivendra's hands and St John's had a good season except for losses at the hands of Sylvester's Callege by a single run and to Royal College playing on turf wickets for the I st time. Five Johnian's played in the combined school's cricket team.
In 1967, the Johnian team led by yet another fine allrounder C.Sooriyakumar, was unbeaten winning 6 out of the 8 matches drawing only the Big Match and against Nalanda. this team was easily the best batting side ever produced by St John's with scores of 344/3, 34514, 291/S, 287/9, 281/8 and having S innings victories. C Sooriyakumar 3 centuries (Highest score of 181 and an average of 85, M.Surendra (l century and 2 half centuries, Bala Rajadurai (3 half centuries), T. Vipulananda, S.S. Jeyanayagam and S. Sivakumar with 2 half centuries dominated the batting. Wicket Keeper S.M Moothathamby, T. Vipulananda and Bala Rajadurai with 10 catches each maintained a high fielding profile. Sooriyakumar scored over 500 runs that season for the 2nd year in succession and was rated by many as the best batsman produced in the history of the school. Rightly, he captained the All Jaffna School's team which included 5 Johnians.
1968 team under S.M Moothathamby remained unbeaten winning 6 out of the 7 matches.Vamadevan, a nephew of the great Lingam brothers of the 50's was the find of the season who continued as a genuine fast bowler in the tradition of his uncles capturing 12 wickets in the Big Match.
D Kulanathan, son of a famous Johnian soccerite Duraisamy and nephew of a famous cricketer Duraisingam was showing signs of greatness which he fully realised in the next year. M Surendra, brother of that Theivendra captained St John's in 1969, although could not bring much success for the season, captained the Jaffna School's Team.
The calibre of cricket in St John's produced many cricketers who after leaving school, reached great heights. Dr C.Balakrishnan(1959-1961), played for Bloomfield in the Sara Trophy, was associated in many double century partnerships with Dr Nihal Gurusinghe and was not surprising that he was selected to represent Ceylon and open batting against the Australians. He obliged with a half century. Dr V.Sivananthan, one of the best wicket keepers StJohn's ever produced captained the University at cricket and would have definitely represented Ceylan if not for the great Dr H.l.K Fernando. Siva was in the Ceylon cricket pool for many years. T. Kirubathilagan, Dr DJ.N Selvadurai, M Theivendra and M Surendra captained University in Sara Trophy cricket while C Sooriyakumar, S.M Moothathamby and Rajan Selvanayagam captained Tamil Union, Army and BRC in Sara Trophy cricket respectively.Jeya Vyravipillai and Bala Rajadurai represented Peradeniya University in the Sara Trophy Tournaments in Cricket and won colours. They along with M Theivendra and M Surendra formed 4 out of the 11 players for Peradeniya in the Sara Trophy Tournaments in 1972.
ATHLETICS
Athletics was another sport in which St John's enjoyed a very fruitful decade in the 60's. From 1960 to 1968, in addition to our excellent performances at the inter house sports meets, where all our performers went onto achieve greater fame in the All Jaffna and Public School's meetings, St John's continually won top birth at the Jaffna School's Group 2 meets, setting up many records and winning the Diana Challenge Cup for relays in succession for 7 years. In 1969, even when sports meets were reorganised in line with Ceylon School's Athletic Association, the athletes performed splendidly by always reaching top position.
Even at public schools sports meets, St John's carved its name with some extraordinary performances. In addition to the number of places we obtained, C Satkurunathan was awarded with public school's colours for his achievement in the triple jump in 1961. In 1963, at the public school's meet in Colombo, St John's by winning the Tarbat Cup for outstation schools and the VBM de Silva Cup for field events proved themselves to be the best among outstation schools. They were runners up in the All School's Tarbat Cup and the Dissanayake Cup for field events and just missed the title of being the best in Ceylon by losing to Royal College in the final event of the day. R Ravindrakumar and K Sothilingam for pole vault. M Theivendra for triple and the 120 m hurdles and the relay team excelled and was not surprising that Ravindrakumar, Theivendra and Kanagathurai wan public schools colours.
In 1964, St John's repeated her triumphs of 1963 by winning an the awards for outstation schools. Ravindrakumar, this time passing over the 11 foot mark in pole vault and Theivendra being placed well in the triple, long and the 110 m hurdles event, qualifying again for public schools colours. The public schools meet nearly won us the Tarbat Cup for the 3rd time succession when we missed by 112 a point. Yet Yipulananda one of our fine all round sportsman of the 60's showed his class in his pet long jump event winning public schools colours.
Under the newly structured public schools meet in 1969 R Sivakumar won colours for his achievement in the long jump event and later represented Ceylon Schools against the Indian Schools and grabbed a Silver medal for his achievement in long jump.
SOCCER
Soccer, which is played during the third term of the school calender, although usually provided St John's with limited success in comparisons to our performances in other fields, yet has produced some magnificent players. In 1961, M.W Rajasingam, an acrobatic goal keeper, was rewarded for his skills, when selected to represent the All Jaffna School's Team and in 1962 M Wjeyaratnam was selected to represent All Ceylon schools against Bangkok while K Mylerumperumal occupied the All Jaffna Schools Centre Half Position.
The soccer team, however in 1967, under the captaincy of S.M Moothathamby, was one of the best soccer teams to be produced by St John's. The 100% wins that season was a repetition of the brilliant performance of the St John's team in 1931. The captain S .M Moothathamby, repeated his achievements in cricket by leading an unbeaten side and went on achieve this feat in basket ball also in the next year. Contrary ta our performance of our soccer teams in the early and middle sixties our feats in 1969 were subject to humiliation . One of our great players of the middle sixties, T. Vinayagamoorthy (knawn as 'China') captained Peradeniya and the combined University at soccer in the early 70's.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
Basketball and Hockey had been reintroduced into the school curriculum in late 50's and St John 's immediately responded by providing the Jaffna team with 3 players in 1960. The under 19 Physical Training Squad emerged champions in the All Island School's Competition in the same year.
In 1961, St John's emerged champions in the Eastern Province Tournament played in Batticaloa and the Hockey team provided the Jaffna Team with 3 players. The under 16 P T Squad won the All Jaffna and the All Island competition while the under 13 won the All Jaffna Competition in their respective age groups. With the famous Satyagraha in 1962, these less popular sports did have a natural death but came back to life within the next couple of years, when in 1965 St John's won the Van Twest Cup in Basketball in a tournament where both, schools and clubs, took part. The under 16 Basketball team emerged champions in the North in the same year.
In the Northern Province Schools Champianships of 1966, the basketball team consisting of brothers Mahadevan and Shyamasunderam, Moothathamby, Gnanakone. Olagasegarem and Alphonsus emerged champs winning the Subramanium Shield, while the Badminton team, consisting of C Anandajeya, S Jeyendran and C Sivendran won the runners up title in the North.
The Hockey team produced one player in C Ambihaipalan for the Jaffna Schools team while W. N Guhanandan won 3 titles in the Table Tennis Competition organised by the Jaffna YMCA.
1967 saw the Hockey team win the Jaffna Schools Championships while the Juniors and the Senior Basketball teams won the runners up places. However it was in Badminton that St John's showed overwhelming superiority. They entered 3 teams (A, B &C)for the inter schools tournament in the North. The A team became champions while the B & C were placed 3rd and 4th. Johnians stole the show at a YMCA organised tournament in the same year by winning all trophies. Sivendran, Jeyendran, Theivendra, Surendra and the Veerasingam brothers Noel and Mano proudly represented St John's.
The Basketball team won the Championship in 1968 being unbeaten. The Badminton players again covered themselves with glory. A, B& C triumphed as in 1967, the A team winning the Championship while the B& C were placed 3rd & 4th at the Northern Province Schools Tournament, both in 1968 and 1969. In 1969 in addition they became runners up in the All Schools competition. At Hockey, the senior team were runners up in 1968 and champions in 1969 while the juniors finished runners up in 1969. Four from the senior side represented the All Jaffna Schools Hockey Team.
The dramatic society of St John's too was very active in this decade. In 1960 they praduced a highly successful drama, 'Paralum Paddali' and in 1962, 'Kalankarai Theivam' and ' Upstart', in 1963, 'Ithaya Osai', in 1968, 'Veeramainthan' and in 1969, 'Fifty Fifty. St John's also had two major musical entertainments, which brought to light the talents of two great artists who were national figures for some time. T Vipulanantha, that famed sportsman was one of them while A.E Manoharan was one many cannot forget for his singing and acting abilities.
THE STAFF
St John's should be proud of their staff during this decade for the supreme standards achieved in many areas. Mr W.T Gunaratnam and Mr Thavarasalingam for Physics, Mr Edwin for Chemistry, Mr Peter Somasundaram and Mr Stephen for Mathematics, Mr Amarasingam for Botany and Mr Anandarajan for Zoology were all known for the manner in which they brought success to the school.
Mr S.K Mahalingam, coaching at Cricket, Soccer and Athletics, Mr James, coaching our P.T Squad and the Boxers, Mr JN Ponniah, Scouting and Basketball and Mr Pararjasingam, for cadeting, all stamped their class.
St John's notes with great sadness the retirement of some of its exponents retiring during this decade. Mr James, Mr Pararajasingam, Rev J.R Ratnanayagam, Mr Peter Somasundaram, Mr W.T Gunaratnam, Mr Stephen and of course Mr A. W Rajasegarem and the death of Mr D. H Chinniah, Mr S. V Eliathamby, Mr E M Ponnudurai, Mr SJ Gunasegarem, Rev J.T Arulanandam, Mr E C A Navaratnarajah, Mr KP Muttiah, Mr KS Manuelpillai, Mr P.T Matthai, Mr G.S Chelliah, Mr S.L Jansen and Mr A.W Rajasegarem.
OLD JOHNIANS IN POLITICS
Maithiripala Senanayake,Member of Parliament
SJ.V Chelvanayagam, Member of Parliament
A. T Durayappah, Member of Parliament
E.M. V Naganathan, Member of Parliament
S.C Mahadeva, Mayor of Jaffna
Note
The writer regrets any errors or omissions
¥ Extracts from the I5Oth year magazine of SJC were used extensively in compiling this article.
CHELLIAH EDWIN ANANDARAJAN - An Appreciation
A Great Educationist & Principal
Born: 31 January 1932; Entered glory: 26 July 1985; Asst.Teacher:
May l955-Mayl970;Co-Vice Principal:Junel970-December 1974;
Vice-Prlnclpal: June 1975 - February 1976;
Principal: March 1976-Junel985.
A decade has passed since the day on which Chellaiah Edwin Anandarajan was torn away, cruelly, from the bosom of his family by an assassin's bullets. Jaffna lost one of its most promising sons, one of her brightest luminaries. Vivid memories remain of that traumatic event. One cannot forget the grief of the stricken family,the spontaneous lamentations of the school family the shocked unbelief of old boys, parents and people from all strata of Jaffna society. The passage of time has dulled the pain of parting and now, it is possible to look back dispassionately at his life and work.
Anandarajan became the Principal of St John's College,Jaffna following in the footsteps of a long line of illustrious and distinguished men.He did have St John's College in his heritage for his great grand-father Robert Williams had been a Headmaster and his father Mr G.S.Chelliah was a teacher.He chose the teaching profession which was fortunate for St John's and for Jaffna.
I came to know Anandarajan well as a very good teacher of Zoology, anxious to develop teacher capabilities and student achievement. l was lecturing in Zoology at the University in Colombo and was involved in curriculum development, syllabus formulation and examinations. Our paths crossed, first, at various seminars and discussions. Later on, marriage ties brought our families together. I was able to understand and appreciate Anandarajan as a family man and a social worker. l worked (closely) with him as he laboured in the interest of his students, especially during the years of the infamous medium-wise standardisation. He did me the great honour in 1983 of inviting me to be Chief Guest at the College Prize Giving. I remember the occasion vividly, his charismatic presence on and off stage. Sitting on the stage with him I thought of the prominent role he had in Jaffna society, how much he would inspire his students and the immense contributions he would make in the years that lay ahead. Alas, that was not to be.
He was a born leader endowed with special qualities of leadership. In his student days at St. John's he held numerous positions including that of scout leader, cadet leader, and senior prekct. When he moved into teaching, positions came to him easily. He was the unanimous choice for Principal, and when the mantle fell on him he wore it with ease and grace as 'to the custom born'. He was president of the Jaflna YMCA, president of Rotary and a delegate to the Colombo Diocesan Council.
Anandarajan was supremely self-confident. The members of his family circle laoked up to him with trust and devotion. His students tumed to him with their problems, educational and otherwise. So did their parents and teachers. People in the community came to him with their problems marriage, bereavements, disputes and disappointments. He helped them all to the extent that he could. So in time his name became a household word in Jaflna society. His period of stewardship at St. John's was perhaps the most turbulent and difficult that any Principal before him had to face. First there was the matter of medium-wise standardisation and then the '83 riots and the ethnk conflict. The riots brought a large influx of students and he ensured that St. John's would do her utmost to help his people in the hour of their greatest need. During the troubles that developed in Jaffna during the last years of his life he rendered yeoman service. Such was his stature that he could talk to both sides and therefore was able to help those who got into difficulty. He served tirelessly on the Citizen's Committee. In the end he laid down his life in the course of these endeavours.
His efforts for the school bore ample fruit. Achievements in studies and sports were maintained at high level. St. John's remained at the forefront of education not only in the penninsula but also in the island. He undertook an extensive building programe, including the Pooranampillai Block. The Ponnudurai Block, The Arulanatham Bloc~ These will remain as lasting monuments not only to those for whom they are named but also to the man whose initiatives and purpose made them realities.
Much has changed during the last ten years in the land that he loved 80 well. St. John's continues to serve to the best of her ability. Anandarajan realised from the beginning that the development ofJaflna is inextricably intertwined with education. Therefore, he dedicated himse/f to that field. Whatever lies before us in the future his vision remains tnue St. John's must prosper and growfrom strength to strength. So too must the entiresystem of education. That would be a lasting memorial to a great Principal and educationist.
KD. Arudpragasam,
Professor of Zoology, University of Colombo.
President, National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka.
Collin Vandendriesan
C SriRanganathan