Opinion
Sugunadasa Athukorale: Principal Par excellence

The month of November 2021 marks the 100th Birth anniversary of an Educationist par Excellence, Sugunadasa Athukorale, one of Nalanda’s greatest Principals who guided Nalanda’s destiny for 13 long years, from 1969 to 1982. Nalanda was going through a difficult time during the early 1960s due to various internal issues such as disagreements among staff members and no Principal could manage the situation which had gone out of control and even the students were getting involved in the disturbances. The Education Ministry appointed young Gunapala Wickramaratne as the Principal of Nalanda in 1964. Within a matter of weeks, he took control of the situation and instilled discipline and order in the school. Wickramaratne was able to turn around Nalanda in a short period and Nalanda became one of the best disciplined schools. But his stay was short, and he was promoted and transferred in 1969.
Mr. Athukorale, an Old Anandian, was serving as the Principal of Thakshila Vidyalaya, Horana, before his transfer to Nalanda. He was an extremely good Mathematics Teacher found his fiancée Hema also to be another good Mathematics teacher. She later taught Mathematics at Nalanda in the middle school, and became Mr. Athukrale’s life partner when she got married to him. His son Upul, who also studied at Nalanda is now domiciled in Canada, while his two daughters Gayathri and Savithri are living in Sri Lanka. Gayathri served in the tutorial staff of Nalanda as a teacher of Information Technology.
Mr. Athukorale was born in Keeranthidiya, in Matugama, on 12th November 1921 He had his education at Ananda College, Colombo. His administration skills were fine-tuned when he led the ‘Mathugama, Horawala Dodangoda Gam Sabawa’ as its head for two consecutive terms. He had relinquished his duties as the Head of the Gam Sabawa when the government took over the schools; he automatically became a state official.
Mr. Athukorale by his actions, behavior and mannerisms set an example to the students, how one should have patience and tolerance, and how one should focus on one’s goals and work towards achieving it.
Mr. Athukorale’s integrity, honesty and simplicity was demonstrated in everything he did. He always worked for the greater good of the school. He wanted his students not only to reach national level but aim and achieve international levels. In order to give the best, he head hunted many a best teacher of the subject to Nalanda.
Mr. Athukorale always considered that it was the school’s responsibility to bring out the best in students. He encouraged freedom of expression among staff and students, promoted free thinking.
Mr. Athukorale had been a father, teacher and a friend to any student who sought his advice. Students who got caught for wrong doings were not punished initially but were severely warned and advised not to involve in such acts again. He always believed in giving students a second chance to correct themselves. He pushed students to achieve their full potential. During his time of service. Nalanda reached its peak in Academic performances, by improving the average number of students passing G.C.E (O/L) and (A/L) examinations, also producing the Island’s best students in science streams in certain years.
During his period, Nalanda reached the top in most of the sports and in, cricket, being the foremost and Nalanda had been consistently feeding players to the National team and the Sri Lanka schools cricket team. Hockey is another sport that continuously won championships at Inter school national level competitions. Athletics, too reached the top level with some record-breaking performances. Cadeting prospered and Senior Cadets won the coveted ‘Herman Loos’ Cup awarded to the best cadet platoon among the schools in the country twice. This trophy was won by Nalanda after 39 years. The Junior Cadets brought the “De Zoysa’ Challenge Trophy awarded to the Island’s best Junior Cadet Platoon after 12 years. Football too was another sport that reached top level.
Coinciding with the Golden Jubilee of Nalanda, the young past students of the school with the support, guidance and initiative, of the Principal Sugunadasa Athukorale formed the Nalanda Junior Old Boys Association (NJOBA) on the 7th of January 1975. The foresight the Principal had in supporting this initiative is evidenced today that this Association during its 47 years of journey has become one of the largest and wealthiest OBAs in the country.
Immediately after its formation, it began to support school in many ways. The very idea of forming this association was to get the young past students linked to the school at a very young age.
During his tenure, his mission was ‘not to be second to anyone’. He passed on this to teachers and students that “we don’t want to be first at the same time we don’t want to be second to anyone”. This message was made clear to every teacher and student, resulting in, a high demand for gaining admissions to Nalanda.
Mr. Athukorale had innovative approaches to solve problems and always encouraged creativity in students. It was always felt that he could see things 10 years ahead. His projects were futuristic. He saw the potential of Nalanda, to impart knowledge by giving a quality education to a higher number of students. He planned a rigorous programme of infrastructure development for Nalanda.
Mr. Athukorale should be credited for Nalanda’s rich infrastructure. A new three-storied Laboratory Building which has a Shrine Room an Auditorium and a Library was constructed during his era in 1979. He saw the need for a Theatre Hall to facilitate the development of performing skills and aesthetics of budding Nalandian artistes. A state-of-the-art Theatre Hall was constructed and it was named the ‘Malalasekera Hall ‘in honour of Nalanda’s First Principal Dr. Gunapala Malalasekera (1925-1927). These are some of the infrastructure projects this dynamic Principal added to the College.
His loyalty to Nalanda was unwavering till his death. Even after retirement he became a regular visitor to Nalanda and was available for any advice to many of us, past students. He was an honourable person with good human qualities. He spent a considerable time and effort to develop Nalanda. Very often he was seen after school hours watching sports practices at a corner of the College grounds under the shade of a tree. His life style was a very simple one. While he had his Volkswagen Beetle parked at school, he used to take the bus plying in route number 166 to go to the Education Department office at Green Path Colombo 2. He was spending public money very cautiously.
Mr. Athukorale preferred to be among his staff members and students. This was amply demonstrated at the first ever ‘Guru Upahara’ -Teacher felicitation ceremony organised by the Junior OBA in 1997, he enjoyed the company of his former lieutenants throughout the day and congratulated the Junior OBA for introducing such an event to the events calendar. I consulted him on many occasions for advice at the time I was heading Junior OBA. After his retirement, he participated in every event at Nalanda.
To coincide with the 100th birth Anniversary of this great Principal, Nalanda Junior Old Boys Association is organising the inaugural ‘Sugunadasa Athukorale Memorial Speech’ via zoom, which will be delivered by a prominent Old Nalandian during the month of November. This will be followed by a donation to the school. This programme will be added to the calendar of events of the Junior OBA. The Junior OBA is ever grateful to their founder patron Mr. Sugunadasa Athukorala. The name of Mr. Sugunadasa Athukorale will be written in gold in the history of Nalanda as one of the most far sighted Principals Nalanda ever had.
Athula Jayasekera
Past President (1995-1998)
Nalanda Junior OBA
Opinion
HW Cave saw Nanu Oya – Nuwara rail track as “exquisite”

Plans to resurrect the Nanu Oya – Nuwara Eliya rail track are welcome. The magnificent views from the train have been described by H W Cave in his book The Ceylon Government Railway (1910):
‘The pass by which Nuwara Eliya is reached is one of the most exquisite things in Ceylon. In traversing its length, the line makes a further ascent of one thousand feet in six miles. The curves and windings necessary to accomplish this are the most intricate on the whole railway and frequently have a radius of only eighty feet. On the right side of the deep mountain gorge we ascend amongst the tea bushes of the Edinburgh estate, and at length emerge upon a road, which the line shares with the cart traffic for about a mile. In the depths of the defile flows the Nanuoya river, foaming amongst huge boulders of rock that have descended from the sides of the mountains, and bordered by tree ferns, innumerable and brilliant trees of the primeval forest which clothe the face of the heights. In this land of no seasons their stages of growth are denoted by the varying tints of scarlet, gold, crimson, sallow green, and most strikingly of all, a rich claret colour, the chief glory of the Keena tree’.
However, as in colonial times, the railway should be available for both tourists and locals so that splendid vista can be enjoyed by all.
Dr R P Fernando
Epsom,
UK
Opinion
LG polls, what a waste of money!

If the people of this country were asked whether they want elections to the local government, majority of them would say no! How many years have elapsed since the local councils became defunct? And did not the country function without these councils that were labelled as ‘white elephants’?
If the present government’s wish is to do the will of the people, they should reconsider having local government elections. This way the government will not only save a considerable amount of money on holding elections, but also save even a greater amount by not having to maintain these local councils, which have become a bane on the country’s economy.
One would hope that the country will be able to get rid of these local councils and revert back to the days of having competent Government Agents and a team of dedicated government officials been tasked with the responsibility of attending to the needs of the people in those areas.
M. Joseph A. Nihal Perera
Opinion
What not to do

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana
It is immaterial whether you like him or not but one thing is crystal clear; Donald Trump has shown, very clearly, who is the boss. Surely, presidents of two countries are equal; perhaps, that is the impression Volodymyr Zelensky had when he went to the White House to meet Trump but the hard reality, otherwise, would have dawned on him with his inglorious exit! True, the behaviour of President Trump and VP Vance were hardly praiseworthy but Zelensky did what exactly he should not do. Afterall, he was on a begging mission and beggars cannot be choosers! He behaved like professional beggars in Colombo who throw money back when you give a small amount!!
Despite the risk of belonging to the minority, perhaps of non-Americans, I must say that I quite like Trump and admire him as a straight-talking politician. He keeps to his words; however atrocious they sound! Unfortunately, most critics overlook the fact that what Trump is doing is exactly what he pledged during his election campaign and that the American voters elected him decisively. When he lost to Biden, all political commentators wrote him off, more so because of his refusal to admit defeat and non-condemnation of his supporters who rioted. When he announced his intention to contest, it only evoked pundits’ laughter as they concluded that the Republican Party would never nominate him. Undaunted, Trump got the party to rally round him and won a non-consecutive second term; a feat achieved only once before, by Grover Cleveland around the end of the nineteenth century. His victory, against all predictions, was more decisive as he got more collegiate votes and, even though it does not matter, won the popular vote too which he did not get when he got elected the first term. Even his bitterest critics should accept this fact.
Zelensky was elected the president of Ukraine after the elected pro-Soviet president was deposed by a ‘peoples revolution’ engineered by the EU with the support of USA. After this, the EU attempted to bring Ukraine to NATO, disregarding the Munich agreement which precipitated the Russian invasion. He should have realised that, if not for the air-defence system which Trump authorised for Ukraine during his first term, Russian invasion would have been complete. It may well be that he was not aware as when this happened Zelensky may still have been the comedian acting the part of the president! Very likely, Trump was referring to this when he accused Zelensky of being ungrateful.
Zelensky also should have remembered that he disregarded requests from Trump, after his defeat by Biden, to implicate Biden’s son in some shady deals in Ukraine and that one of the last acts of Biden was to pardon his son and grant immunity to cover the alleged period. Perhaps, actions of the European leaders who embrace him every time they see him, as a long-lost brother, and invitations to address their parliaments has induced an element of the superiority complex in Zelensky that he behaved so combative.
Trump wanted to be the mediator to stop the war and spoke to Putin first. Instead of waiting for Trump to speak to him, egged on by EU leaders Zelensky started criticising Trump for not involving him in the talks. His remark “He should be on our side” demonstrated clearly that Zelensky had not understood the role of a mediator. His lack of political experience was the major reason for the fiasco in the White House and the subsequent actions of Trump clearly showed Zelensky where he stands! PM Starmer and President Macron seem to have given some sensible advice and he seems to be eating humble pie. In the process Trump has ensured that the European nations pay for their defence than piggy-backing on the US, which I am sure would please the American voter. By the way, though Macron talks big about defence France spends less than 2% of GDP. Trump seems vindicated. Of course, Trump could be blamed for being undiplomatic but he can afford to be as he has the upper hand!

Ranil on Al Jazeera
Zelensky has shown what not to do: instead of being diplomatic being aggressive when you need favours! Meanwhile, Ranil has shown what not to do when it comes to TV interviews. God only knows who advised him, and why, for him to go ‘Head to Head’ with Mehdi Hasan on Al-Jazeera. Perhaps, he wanted to broadcast to the world that he was the saviour of Sri Lanka! The experienced politician he is, one would have expected Ranil to realise that he would be questioned about his role in making Sri Lanka bankrupt as well, in addition to raising other issues.
The interview itself was far from head to head; more likely heads to head! It turned out to be an inquisition by Tiger supporters and the only person who spoke sense being Niraj Deva, who demonstrated his maturity by being involved in British and EU politics. The worst was the compere who seems keen to listen his own voice, reminding me of a Sinhala interviewer on a YouTube channel whose interviews I have stopped watching!
Ranil claims, after the interview was broadcast, that it had been heavily edited reduced from a two-hour recording. Surely, despite whatever reason he agreed to, he should have laid ground rules. He could have insisted on unedited broadcast or his approval before broadcast, if it was edited. It was very naïve of Ranil to have walked in to a trap for no gain. Though his performance was not as bad as widely reported, he should have been more composed at the beginning as he turned out to be later. Overall, he gave another opportunity for the Tiger rump and its supporters to bash Sri Lanka, unfortunately.
Medhi Hasan should watch some of David Frost interviews, especially the one with Richard Nixon, and learn how to elicit crucial information in a gentle exploratory manner than shouting with repeated interruptions. He does not seem to think it is necessary to give time for the interviewee to respond to his questions. I will never watch Al-Jazeera’s “Head to Head” again!
Ranil’s best was his parting shot; when asked by Hasan whether he would contest the next presidential election, he said “No, I will retire and watch Al-Jazeera and hope to see you better mannered”!
-
News4 days ago
Alfred Duraiappa’s relative killed in Canada shooting
-
Opinion6 days ago
Insulting SL armed forces
-
Foreign News19 hours ago
Search continues in Dominican Republic for missing student Sudiksha Konanki
-
Features3 days ago
Richard de Zoysa at 67
-
Editorial5 days ago
Ghosts refusing to fade away
-
Features3 days ago
SL Navy helping save kidneys
-
Features5 days ago
The Gypsies…one year at a time
-
Midweek Review4 days ago
Ranil in Head-to-Head controversy