Trinity College exploring vistas of excellence on Sesquicentennial Anniversary-by Ananda Kannangara

A priceless jewel in the kingdom of Kandy, Trinity College, one of the leading schools in the country and boasts a rich heritage, marks a red-letter day today (17) celebrating its 150th anniversary (T150) with plans afloat to carry on the legacy for another century and beyond.

Source:Dailynews

Principal, Trinity College – Kandy Rev. Fr. Araliya Jayasundara OSB says the theme for the 150-year celebrations too is adeptly themed this way with the tagline ‘Exploring Visas of Excellence’.

The celebration event starts at 8 a.m. with the Solemn Service of Thanksgiving presided over by Rt. Rev. Keerthisiri Fernando, Bishop of Kurunegala. The inaugural Rev. A.G. Fraser memorial oration will be at 10:00 a.m. and it will be delivered by Prof. Malik Ranasinghe, Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Moratuwa. Both events will be live-streamed on College social media platforms.

“T150 is a watershed event for the Trinity Family. T150 Sesquicentennial Anniversary Celebration, thus, is an opportune moment for the Trinity Family to recall and renew the pioneering vision of those erudite men and women, who ventured into new horizons, exploring new vistas of excellence of education in Sri Lanka.

“Yet, we must bear in mind the plight of multitudes in Sri Lanka and the world over, due to the global pandemic and pitch our celebrations accordingly.

“Standing tall for 150 years the school maintains and carries on rich traditions passing from generation to generation and while upholding them the school has taken numerous initiatives to groom students for future career demands the world would be asking for.

Principal, Trinity College, Kandy – Rev. Fr. Araliya Jayasundara OSB

“In-depth studies of future career guidance undertaken by us a few years back have identified several new emerging areas as well some of the depleting employment areas and we have attuned our education model to suit them. This is done through our new ‘Center for Excellence’ which was remodeled rece

ntly.”

“We observe the current education system as more curriculum-based and felt the need to do some remodeling to introduce an ‘organic model’ to grow student’s creativity to meet the future HR demands and explore their creativity and give them the self-confidence to even to start their own enterprise by redefining our education model.”

“We have paid great emphasis on digitalization demands and have focused on these aspects as well to continue with our blended platform. Trinity Academy too would play a key role towards this initiative and will keep on looking for more practical education models moving away from the highly competitive and traditional doctor engineer producing models.”

He said that though Trinity College is not at the forefront of producing Presidents and Prime Ministers it has molded personalities in numerous vistas such as Duncan White, Lieutenant General Denzil Kobbekaduwa, former Ministers, Lakshman Kadirgamar and Gamini Dissanayake, George Keyt, Kumar Sangakkara and Jayantha Dhanapala, who have made huge contributions not only to Sri Lanka but to the global community as well.”

New systems during C-19 lockdowns

Meanwhile Krishanthan Antonydas – Vice Principal, Trinity College – Kandy said that they learned and adopted several new education systems after the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“This period was very challenging as we had not experienced a situation of this nature and we quickly moved into the digital platform ensuring that the students’ education was not compromised at any time. We must also thank the teachers and even parents who quickly adapted to the ‘new normal’ and moved our pace.”

He said the school also went out of their way to arrange urgent purchases of laptops and other devices and offered it to the teachers under interest-free loan schemes to ensure the students’ education was not compromised.

The College continued with this program and today most of our classes are ‘Smart Classes’ each with Smart boards and many other novel features. “In addition to these with three Computer Labs we can proudly say that Trinity College Kandy is the digitally enabled school in the region!”

Rev. A G Fraser

He also recalled that the newly refurbished College hostel currently houses about 200 students, can be scaled up to accommodate up to 400 children. “After a lapse of a decade or so, once again we observe an emerging trend from outstation parents to send their children to Trinity and hence plans are afloat to increase hostel facilities.”

Students pass rates increasing

Ananda Marasinghe – Co-Vice Principal / Head Master Junior School, Trinity College, Kandy commenting on recent additions to the school said that they introduced London A/L three years ago to the school. There is now a very high demand even from external students who wish to join Trinity to commence their international education. The school Farm too was upgraded and today it is considered a model for others to learn and follow. “We must thank the late Willam Sinnathambi for his vision that led agriculture at Trinity to this level”

Expansions are being done at the Center for Excellence, too. “We are also constantly mapping up other educational instruments for students to be ready for future growth areas like Cyber Security, Machine Learning and many more.

“Several new buildings are being constructed under the T150 infrastructure project, which will comprise most modern facilities the students would need to pursue new age education

‘’We must also take this opportunity to thank our Old Boys Associations not only in Sri Lanka but in many parts of the world who constantly support the College in whatever the academic and infrastructure support that’s required to provide a cutting edge, holistic education to our students.

“The commitment of our staff has shown in continuously growing productive results as students’ pass rates have now increased to almost 99.4% for O/Ls and many all-island rankings at A/L’s.

“The school sports too are in an upward trend and keep on producing players to represent Sri Lanka in various disciplines.

Krishanthan Antonydas – Vice Principal and Ananda Marasinghe Co-Vice Principal /Headmaster Junior School

“The extracurricular activities offered by the school too have come to high praise and these include Sports, as well as a large number of clubs and societies including Drama, Motor Engineering, Media, Astronomy, Scouting, Social Services, Choir, outward-bound programs and many more.

“The Trinity Chapel, the only one of its kind in the world that boasts ancient Sri Lankan architecture too, will be celebrating its 100-year existence in August 2022.

“When it comes to Rugger, Trinity College is a major force to be reckoned with and in a bid to share success, it partners with emerging teams in peripheral schools through student outreach programs.

Trinity’s mission is to provide the best all-around education for the boys in a caring, disciplined, and inspiring environment. This includes academic studies, sports, the Arts and extra-curricular activities.

Trinity College today

Trinity College has around 3,000 pupils and over 210 teachers. Starting at the age of three at Montessori Nursery gives very young children their initial experience of school.

The Junior School discovers and nurtures a child’s unique talents and strengths; it gives opportunities for boys to try out new and exciting activities, and it creates hard-working, creative, active, and disciplined students, who are encouraged to think for themselves.

Academic study is balanced by a wide variety of sports and extra-curricular activities while the Upper School provides multiple academic and extra-curricular opportunities within a stimulating environment; thereby enabling our boys to develop the life skills to become leaders at all levels of society.

Trinity College is now in its crusade to produce the next generation of leaders in Sri Lanka.

New infrastructure development projects added last year

IAL classroom in progress

The Oriental musical room

The Trinity College Choir