Henegama Central College is close to a beautiful town surrounded by fertile fields and coconut groves mentioned in the Keragala Vanume of Hansa Sandesha.
The school takes a prominent place among the schools of the Gampaha District. Henegama Central is the main school in the Mahara Division of Kelaniya Education Zone and is the only sports school in the Gampaha District.
Principal
U. V. Gunarathne
This prestigious co-educational institution, which consistently achieves exceptional educational, sports and aesthetic achievements, has 70 classrooms and 115 academic staff.
Henegama Central is the 11th central college born under the “Establishment of Middle Schools” of Sir C. W. W. Kannangara’s free education concept.
The school was opened on March 12, 1944, with 180 students and six teaching staff, and its founding principal was D.E. Rajapakse.
The late philanthropist D.E. Rajapakse and Sri Lanka’s first Executive President, J.R. Jayewardene, laid the foundation stone for the construction of the new school building, which Rajapakse started by donating 14 acres of land.
Boys and girls’ dormitories, a technology unit, chemistry and physics unit, principal’s quarters and a two-storied building were opened by then Prime Minister Sir John Kothalawala.
Laboratories, dental surgeries, a spectacular Buddha temple and classrooms were built with generous donations from the State and parents, and the development of physical resources was systematically organised.
The school has shown continuous growth under the leadership of 16 principals since the inception of the college to this day.
Former students and teachers say that during the times of Principal R.P.S. Rajapaksa and Principal Vijaya Satyajin Kularatne were the College’s golden eras.
During Rajapakse’s time, Henegama Middle School was named a sports school in the Gampaha District by introducing gymnastics, karate and athletics.
Retired
On September 25, 2019, former President Maithripala Sirisena made Henegama Middle School a national school during the tenure of recently retired Principal Vijaya Satyajith Kularatne.
Mithula Vishvajith who won the Best Bowler’s award at the under-19 cricket awards this year.
Taking on the baton, Principal U.V. Gunaratne took office on August 14, 2023 to provide quality education and sporting excellence alongside developing physical resources and aesthetics.
Schoolboy cyclist of the year 2023
According to the school’s vision of “formal education in a disciplined environment” curricular education in addition to scouting, environ mental troops, cadeting, speech, debate, media, student parliament, as tronomy, information technology associations, student leaders, literary photographic associations and many other activities are provided to produce good citizens with the help of the dedicated teaching staff and exceptional trainers. Due to this, the school records many achievements in all sports each year. M.A. Himal Senahas Samaraweera won the first place in the All-Island School Cycling Championship, and the under-18-year-old girls volleyball team won third place at the 2022 Championship. It came fourth at the 2023 All-Island Championship and won the Western Province Championship that year.
The school also won Gampaha District’s best scout group in 2023, seven cadets have achieved great fame for the college by showing various talents.
The senior Sinhala debating team won third place in the Gampaha Municipal Debating Tournament, while the Sinhala and English language and literature competition teams won special prizes. The cricket teams have displayed great performances and the “Cyan Blue Green Battle” “Ruhunu Maya Madhi Kaha Note” are memories that have coloured the college’s cricket history.
Scholarship
Among the educational specialties, the year 6 students are admitted based on the scholarship cut-off marks and join the 1ABSupper school classification by introducing the subject of technology in 2014.
The college scored the best results at the GCE O/Ls among mixed schools in the Gampaha District. Henegama Central has likewise become one of the leading colleges in the region, recording a very high pass percentage every year.
The pass percentage in 2022 was 99.5 percent at the GCE O/Ls. Every year, students are admitted to all faculties of State universities under the higher education streams of Science, Arts, Commerce and Technology.
At the 2022 A-levels, 21 students who obtained 3As in each subject were admitted to the faculties of Medical Engineering, Legal Management, Technology, and every year nearly 100 students from the school are admitted to universities.
Principal U.V. Gunaranna said he aims to endow the country with quality citizens with high educational skills who can face global challenges.
The teaching staff and the non-academic staff are working with dedication and give full support to overcome the development goals of the college. The expectation of all these departments is to see the emergence of working student stars for the whole of Sri Lanka.
The principal is spearheading the modernisation of school buildings, development of the playground and library facilities, development of main auditorium facilities, creation of smart class rooms with information technology facilities and construction of a swimming pool with the contribution of public and private donours to further develop the quality of education.
Congratulations to the Henegama Middle School, which will celebrate its 80th anniversary on March 12, 2024.
Translated by Jonathan Frank
