This year too, Queensland Old Royalist Association (QORA) is expected to spend approximately Rs.12,000 per student to improve communication skills of rural children entering Royal College at Year 6 and living in its hostel. The program is delivered by the Wendy Whatmore Academy of Speech and Drama (WWA) Colombo’s gold standard for over eight decades.
This program, initiated in 2020, has been continuing despite constant disruptions to education with schools closed for extended periods. As teaching large groups of students in interactive ways online is not practical, WWA prefers to conduct physical classes and therefore it has been a serious challenge to hold sessions when no one knew if the school would be closed or open in the following week. The organisers were single-mindedly determined to proceed whenever a window of opportunity presented itself, and WWA obliged gamely despite numerous difficulties.
This year’s intake consists of 61 children from 45 Divisional Secretariats and 15 districts.
Many parents were truly grateful for this magnanimous gesture of the Alumni and revealed that the reason for choosing Royal College over many good provincial schools closer to home, was for a better education-specifically to improve the ability to speak in English. They appreciated the fact that it is offered free and delivered by the best in the field.
For QORA it is very important that every rural child entering Royal College should be fully cared for and made equal to every other student in his class.
After observing how their inability to converse in English fluently effect their confidence-on rare instances for life-QORA resolved that their contribution should go into improving communication skills eventually leading to produce youth full of confidence and self assertiveness.
According to the Warden RCH, today’s hostel consists of 364 students from every nook and cranny of the island.
And only the highest achievers at Y5 Scholarship exam are accepted to RC. Since the space is severely limited very rarely a student from the Western Province is accepted to the hostel. He views the QORA commitment as the most meaningful contribution to free education in the 21st century. “When the country sends us its most precious gems, shouldn’t we add the best value possible in return” was the question he posed.