05/12/2024
Assisted Schools and Training Colleges (Special Provisions) Act No. 8 of 1961 ;
I, W.M.D.B. Abeyratne left St. Thomas’s College in August 1983. Thereafter, after completing higher education, I joined the public service and retired recently after many years of service in the public sector.
I started writing the book “Kandyan Hybrid Struggle” before retirement. This is an academic historical experimental publication which is written based on the Kandyan era and the near most three eras namely Kotte, Seethawaka and Gampola eras. The inauguration ceremony was held at D.S. Senanayake Children’s Library, Kandy on the 03rd day of February 2024.
I had to visit the Colombo Museum, Department of Government Archives and the Library of the Archaeological Department very often for finding true and acceptable information when writing this book. There, I got the opportunity to see the Assisted Schools and Training Colleges (Special Provisions) Act No. 8 of 1961 which has provisions for acquiring schools to the Government and Gazette Notifications Extraordinary issued in the years 1961, 1962 and 1967 and to obtain certified copies of the same for a charge.
It was confirmed at discussions I had on the 20th day of October 2024 with the Principals of St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy where I obtained primary education and St. Thomas’s College, Matale where I studied for G.C.E. O/L Examination and A/L Examination that the aforesaid important legal documents are not available at these Schools. I hereby record that for the purpose of filling this lacuna, I offered a compilation of all these important Documents to the two principals of these Schools (Mr. Asela Ranasinghe-SSC and Mr. Dhammika Hewawasam-STC) on the 20th day of October 2024.
W.M.D.B. Abeyratne