Type National Staff 275 | Principal R. M. M. Rathnayake | |
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Motto Country Before Self(තමාට පෙර රට) Established February 10, 1967 (1967-02-10) Founder Ralph Ignatius Thomas Alles | ||
D. S. Senanayake College (Sinhala: ඩී.එස්.සේනානායක විද්යාලය D. S. Senanayaka Vidyalaya) (also referred to as D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo, D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo 7, Colombo D. S. Senanayake College, or simply as DS or DSSC) is a selective entry, boys' school in Sri Lanka. It was established on 10 February 1967 under the stewardship of Sir R. I. T. Alles. As a national school it is controlled by the central government, as opposed to a provincial council.
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The College is named after the first Prime Minister of Independent Sri Lanka, Don Stephen Senanayake, who is also considered the Father of the Nation. It's the only muti-ethnic, trilingual school established in Sri Lanka in the post-independence era and is also the largest muti-ethnic school in the country.
Overview
D. S. Senanayake College, situated on R. G. Senanayake Mawatha (formerly Gregory Road), Colombo, Sri Lanka. School has current enrollment of over 6000 students with an academic staff over 275. The school is listed among the National Schools, which come under the administration of the Ministry of Education, thus has direct funding from the ministry.
The College provides education to students from Grade 1 to 13 in Sinhala, Tamil and English language. It also provides Mathematics, Science, Commerce & Arts fields for the Advance Level Examinations. The school is fully equipped with modern classrooms, multiple science laboratories and computer laboratories, grounds and sports complex for sports activities. It also has more than 35 Clubs, Societies & Associations engaged in all types of co-curricular activities. There are wide range of sporting activities.
History
In 1965 the number of requests to admit children into the Royal College Primary had become excessive. Thus the Minister of Education I. M. R. A. Iriyagolla took the initiative to build a new school in Cinnamon Gardens on the lines of Royal College, Colombo. In 1967 Minister Iriyagolla began the ground work for establishing the school. It was named after D. S. Senanayake, who was the first prime minister of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) after gaining independence. R. I. T. Alles, an assistant principal at Royal College became the Head Master of the new school. The location in which the college stands today was at that time called the Kumbikale jungle.
Houses
Students are placed in one of four houses according to their admission number.They compete each year to win the Inter-house Competitions.
School anthem
Sinhala version of School anthem was composed by Navarathna Attanayake and the lyrics are by Premakeerthi de Alwis. Tamil version of the school anthem was written by Sillayoor Selvarajah. The anthem is recited every morning in school days.
Coat of Arms
The Coat of Arms is a shield which is partitioned into two parts. The upper section has the lion of the Sri Lankan flag and the lower section has an oil lamp. A wreath of paddy is partially encircling the shield and the motto Country Before Self is in a scroll. Some decades back, the crown of the Kandyan monarch which is depicted in the crest of Royal College Colombo, was depicted in the school's crest as well.
School hostel
The Government of Sri Lanka offered a building previously occupied by the Crime Investigation Bureau in 2003. After renovating the building the school hostel was opened in January 2003.
Prefects
The Prefects body is composed of Student Volunteers, Student Guides and Senior Prefects. The Student Volunteers are selected from Grade 12 and they go onto become Students Guides in Grade 13. After completing the GCE (Advanced Level) examination they are promoted to the Senior Prefects' Guild.