School type Public national 1AB Grades 1-13 Phone +94 27 2 222039 Founder C. P. de Silva | Authority Gender Mixed Color Maroon Founded 19 April 1959 | |
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Motto පමා නොවවු (Pama nowau)
(Be punctual) School district Polonnaruwa Education Zone Address New Town Road, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka Similar Hotel Sudu Araliya, Polonnar Technical College, The Lake Hotel, Siyanco Holiday Resort | ||
Royal Central College - Polonnaruwa (Sinhalese: රාජකීය මධ්ය මහා විද්යාලයය; also known as Royal College - Polonnaruwa or Polonnaruwa Rajakeeya Madya Maha Vidyalaya) is a national school in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
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History
Royal Central College was founded by government minister C. P. de Silva on the lines of the Royal College, Colombo. Silva laid the foundation stone of the school on 19 April 1959. Six years later the school was opened for local children. Scholarships were offered to students in Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee districts. The main objective of the school was to give proper educational opportunities for the children of farmers. The school also owned 54 acres (220,000 m2) of land and paddy fields and the income from these was used to fund the school. At the beginning students were recruited to grade 9 and upwards. Students were selected for art, commerce, and science classes by scholarship examination in grade 8. D. B. Karunathilaka was the school's first principal and R. W. Galahitiyawa was the vice principal. The school had around 22 staff in 1965.
The school was closed in 1971 due to the JVP insurrection. It became a rehabilitation camp. No education was carried out at the school for three years. Instead, commerce classes were held in the irrigation office and science classes was held at Topawewa School.