Asian International School Annual Prize Giving
The annual Prize Giving of Asian International School was held on 7th July at the BMICH attended by the Board of Directors, Mrs. Manel Perera, Mr. Hemajeeva Bambaradeniya and Dr. Goolbai Gunasekera; the Principal; members of staff; distinguished invitees; parents; past pupils; and the students. Professor Manique Gunesekera, Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Chair Professor of English at the University of Kelaniya graced the occasion as Chief Guest.
The evening’s programme commenced with two minutes silence being observed in memory of the Founder Chairman, Mr. W. P. Perera who passed away in April this year. The Principal, Mrs Priyanthi Seneviratne said, “the school remembers him on this occasion with deep sadness and greatly misses his dignified and gracious presence.” Mr. Perera’s professional career which spanned a successful 28 years in the tea industry was mainly with Carson Cumberbatch & Company. He retired in 1987 to administer his own tea factories and mini hydro project. Mrs. Seneviratne also said, “of Mr. Perera’s many business enterprises, he was happiest when he was in the school which he established in September 1989 with the desire of serving the community and satisfying a niche in the educational needs of the country.”
Mrs. Seneviratne, reading her report for the year 2011-2012 announced the recent appointment of Mrs. Nalangi Perera as the Chairperson of the Asian International School Board of Directors. She said, “Mrs. Perera had her early education at Bishop’s College, continued her studies in Bangalore at Bishop Cotton Girls’ School; and on graduating, took up a teaching appointment at Asian International School. While teaching, she commenced and completed studies in Child Psychology; and was subsequently, appointed a Director of the School Board. Mrs. Nalangi Perera later established the AIS Infant School in Battaramulla where she has been the Executive Director throughout.”
In her report, Mrs. Seneviratne spoke of the many achievements and accolades the students of the school had won during the year. She said, “academically we have consistently done well. Out of the 88 students who sat the O/Levels last year, 84 of them qualified to enter the A/Level classes. 18% of them gained ‘A*’s and ‘A’s in all their subjects. All our students sit a minimum of 7 subjects at the O/Levels whilst most do 8 or 9 subjects. At the AS Level, of the 132 who sat the exams, 14% gained ‘A’s in all four subjects. Further exceptional results were seen at the A/ Level final exams where, of the 105 students who sat, 23% gained ‘A*’s and ‘A’s in all their subjects and 100 students qualified. AIS also had 5 world prize winners at these O/Level and A/Level exams.”
At Basketball, Swimming, Badminton, Rowing and Rifle Shooting AIS students had done exceptionally well at the various National and All Island Championships. Mrs. Seneviratne said, “at AIS, our goal is for our students to be more than they ever imagined they could be. We all have the dream to do more with our lives and at AIS our purpose is to build the confidence, knowledge and skills to make the pursuit of dreams a reality. We encourage the building of meaningful relationships; the converting of knowledge into action through ethical decision making; and most importantly, the cultivating of personal accountability. This is achieved through participation in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities organized by The English Literary Association, The Interact Club, The Media Club, The Interfaith Society, The Go Green Club amongst a number of others.“
After the distribution of awards by the Chief Guest, she was invited to address the audience. In her excellent and thought-provoking speech, Professor Gunesekera said, “I wish to congratulate the founder principal for her foresight in including English, Sinhala and Tamil in the school curriculum at a time when Sri Lanka was intoxicated with being western, or to use the term coined by an Arab linguist, ‘West toxicated’: here was AIS ensuring that indigenous languages and cultures were part of the curriculum.“
“While you head towards a quarter century of existence, I congratulate the school from rising from its humble beginnings of 16 students to nearing 1300 students, matched by a teaching faculty of 130 members. I’m sure you will continue to grow from strength to strength and expand your horizons further, as the leading international school in Sri Lanka.”
Professor Gunesekera also said, “when international schools first came into existence, excluding the Overseas School which began as a special purpose school, there was both excitement and resistance amongst the general public of educators and parents. At one level, international schools were the need of the hour because English medium education was dying out in Sri Lanka, and many pragmatic individuals looked upon the phenomenon of the international schools as the saviors of English medium education. On the other hand, international schools were private, fee-levying schools, adding to the gap between the haves and the have nots, and were perceived as catering to the privileged and not to the underprivileged. In this instance too, AIS scored over other institutions because many parents felt that the fee structure was more manageable to Sri Lankans than at other institutions. Plus, to the credit of the Board of Governors, and the founder principal, AIS had a scholarship scheme based on merit, opening the doors to the less privileged of a certain level of achievement.”
“However, the issue of catering to the privileged, or being considered an elitist institution remains. This is where you, the students come into the picture. Most of us, the westernized or anglicized segment of Sri Lankan society are the products of elitist education. We have attended the best private schools of our time, and reaped immense benefits from the cultures and languages we absorbed in such institutions.”
Continuing to address the students directly, she said, “Now, for your responsibility which comes with the privilege of belonging to an institution like AIS. We, the educators of Sri Lanka have come across students who say, “we only speak English,” or a Sri Lankan child of the 21st century who said, “my mother tongue is Latin.” These examples capture the essence of the problem. Just because you belong to a school which functions in English and you like to say your mother tongue or native language is English, it does not bar you from claiming the other languages of our country. This is a myth of our political system, that you can have only one mother tongue or native language. Look at the people of Eastern Europe or India or Nigeria. Each one grows up with at least three home languages, and they see no reason to declare allegiance to only one language. Similarly, there is no shame in being a bilingual or trilingual Sri Lankan. In fact, most westernized Sri Lankans are bilingual or trilingual. The most successful business people in Sri Lanka, are multilingual – look at the Borah community – they speak, English, Sinhala and Dawoodi Gujerati at home. The Malay community is quadrilingual speaking Sri Lankan Malay, English, Sinhala and Tamil. So, to begin with, you should be proud of what you are, proud of the diversity you represent, not try to be monolingual or one language speakers, which is boring to say the least.”
Professor Gunasekera added, “the second responsibility is the debt you owe to Sri Lanka. Most urban Sri Lankans spend their time grumbling about the system, the corruption, the waste, the hopelessness of being Sri Lankan in Sri Lanka. Believe me, these are universal woes. Every country has the problem of corruption and challenges to human rights.”
“So, students of AIS, first, there is nothing to be ashamed of in being Sri Lankan. We should keep in mind what a young, popular president of the USA told his people – ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country’. That is the price you must pay for the privilege you enjoy in being in a private school with lots of great facilities, a team of devoted teachers and a fun loving environment.”
During the ceremony, the past Student Council of 2010-2011 and the President of the newly formed and active AIS Alumni Association, Mr. Niranjan Arulpragasam were also invited to distribute some of the awards. Mrs. Priyanthi Seneviratne badged the new prefects and office bearers for 2012-2013. The ceremony was followed by four delightful entertainment items performed by the students.