St. John’s Tamil MV’S focus is on education and discipline
Rakwana St. Johns’ Tamil Maha Vidyalaya is a highly respected and leading Tamil school in the Ratnapura District. Presently it is included to the Thousand School Project which is a conce pt of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The school was established in 1887 as an Anglican school and until 1963 it has been operated by the Anglican Council. There was only a temporary building f or nearly 400 s t u d e n t s. The Government provided the first building in 1972. The blessings of this act should go to late Minister T. V. G. Karunarathna. Since 1983 the school launched a path of development in every aspect specializing in curricular and co- curricular activities. The principal during that period was Mr. I. Pandurenganadan, a former Director of Education. It was he who introduced this vital turning point to the school.
This year, 2012 St’ Johns’ Tamil M. V. is celebrating its 125th Anniversary on a grand scale with a range of activities. Publishing a magazine and a school walk are some of them.
At present the school boasts of over 1700 students. They enjoy educational facilities and are guided by a staff of about 115 teachers. Seventy of them are devoted to the task of providing knowledge and skills. The present principal is Mr. P. Kamaleshwaran who guides the students. His aim is to bring fame to the school and guide the children to be excellent citizens.
St. Johns’ Tamil M. V. is very concerned in educating the children and as such force the students to show their talents to the maximum in public examinations. As a result they have excelled in the Ratnapura district at all public examinations. Since 1998 they havr experienced good results in Grade 5 scholarship examinations and 22 students got through the examination while K. Nilakshan obtained the First Rank in the district during the same year.
The G. C. E. ( O/ L) examination also annually brings a reasonable result to the school with Eight A’s. Year- by- year the university entrants have increased and in 2008 two students got 2A’s and 1B which is a great achievement as this school is placed under 1C Category.
The students of this school show their talents not only in curricular activities but also in co- curricular and extracurricular activities with the support of the dedicated staff. They are best in sports and dancing.
An athletic team of six participated at the Indian tour for the Indian Athletic Training Camp in 2011. They bagged several provincial medals in the Ratnapura District and participated at the All- Island Schools Athletics meet as well. Ms. Anusha Begum is a gifted teacher of the school who won the Best Athlete Award in 2011.
The college dancing troupe secured Provincial First place and All Island Fourth place in the school dancing competition in 2011. The drama contingent took third place at the All Island contest in the same year. They have gained many victories and awards at Provincial and All Island Tamil Day and Sinhala day competitions.
The future plan of the school is to develop quality improvement in the education field with a strict focus on discipline. With substantial and human resources the college is endeavoring to reach their aims. All well- wishers should be with them to build up the college to have many triumphs and to produce well- disciplined and educated citizens in order to lead the country in the years to come.