Teacher and educationist who touched our lives

As Solomon Oritz said; Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.” The name Helakumara Epasinghe remains etched in the memory of most Josephians who had the opportunity of knowing him; as a teacher, friend and guiding light. Affectionately known to generations of Josephians as “Epa”, he was an icon of goodness to all those who were fortunate enough to have stepped into St Joseph’s College, Colombo, an institution which has produced men of erudition who have made and changed the destinies of our motherland. The great “Guru” of our time passed away on January 5 and his final rites were held on the following day according to his last wishes. He was 84 years old at the time of his departure and to those of us who had the greatest honour and privilege of knowing him or even working together with him during his days at college, he certainly will live on forever in our hearts and minds. During a career and an inalienable association with St. Joseph’s that spanned well-nigh 34 years, he had been a teacher, sectional head, invaluable friend, advisor, and above all a concerned human being. He joined the Darley Road institution way back in 1968 as a teacher for Physics during the stewardship of that renowned scholar and educationist Rev. Fr. (Dr). Don Peter. Having completed his preliminary education at Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte, Epa graduated in Physics at Vidyodaya Pirivena (present University of Sri Jayewardenepura). He had honed his skills at Henegama Central College before joining St Joseph’s in 1968 and continued a journey of success until his retirement in 2002. We were extremely fortunate to have come under the tutelage of such teachers who imparted knowledge and virtue as they treated teaching as a service-oriented profession. We remember such men of sterling character with reverence, respect and gratitude. Besides Epasinghe, there were teachers of the calibre of Joe Perera, Gamini Samarasinghe and M.G.I Ferdinands to name a few. Epasinghe had the remarkable ability to bring a certain infectious vivacity to the subject of Physics which he taught and demonstrated with great enthusiasm and interest. We eagerly awaited his lessons invariably interspersed with exciting anecdotes that facilitated the ready assimilation of what he taught. He laid a solid foundation for all of us not only on an academic level but on how to use simple common sense in life. In his whole career as a teacher and an educationist par excellence, Epa was able to manage the roles of sectional head and then senior advisor/consultant with ease and acceptance. He was a man of great humour who could diffuse a situation with a pithy remark or a humorous turn of phrase. He preferred to use these as an instrument of discipline rather than resort to corporal chastisement. Yours truly once hastily returned to the classroom by whistling just after playing an “interval” cricket match at the so called Beira ground. His humorous remark “This is not the pigeon catching time” is fresh in my memory even after three decades and was far more effective than discharging the best from the cane. A man of great principles and policies he could have easily bartered his experience and qualification to any lucrative profession. He could have easily emulated his elder sibling Prof. P.W. Epasinghe, a Mathematics wiz but he preferred teaching. Epa had a great memory. When a contemporary of ours who is a professor in Ireland met him in a suburban town in Colombo nearly 20 years after leaving school, to the amazement of the student he recalled his full name and the year that he had left school! We share our grief with his offspring Duminda, Parinda (my contemporary), daughters Dimuthu and Diana. His wife Pearl, a school principal predeceased him some years back. I am reminded of famous words of the Iranian poet Omar Khayyam: “The moving finger writes, and having written moves on. Nor all thy piety nor all thy wit, can cancel half a line of it.” May he attain supreme bliss of Nirvana!