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"Family spirit in education is precious"

by Geoff Wijesinghe

Elizabeth Moir is a remarkable woman. The former Oxford University tennis captain, who led her team to victory in the 1963 Battle of the Blues, is imbued with a irrepressible desire to promote education despite having to undergo many a hardship. Through toil, sweat and at times even tears, she has with British Bull Dog courage, steadily but surely climbed the uproad.

A few months ago, I had a long chat with Elizabeth Moir who is today a highly respected educationist in Sri Lanka, at her school at Guildford Crescent in Cinnamon Gardens, where students belonging to 30 nationalities study, interact and build life-long friendships.

It was Elizabeth Moir who pioneered the International Schools concept in Sri Lanka. She established the first of these, the Colombo International School, in 1982 beginning with 29 students, and had a student roll of 1,000 in 1994, when due to unfortunate circumstances, she had to move. Elizabeth then set up the British School at Bambalapitiya.

I joined this dynamic, yet soft-spoken and very charming woman in a trip down memory lane. Born in London to Scottish parents, Elizabeth spent a lot of time in the East, as her father was a regional representative for General Electric.

Her family lived for several years in India. Her parents were so enraptured by the beauty of the world renowned holiday resort Simla at the foothills of the Himalayas, that they built a hotel which they still own and now run by her grandparents.

Sitting beside the log fire in the warm, cosy lounge of the Hotel Windermere on a cold winter's day, in the shadow of the snow-capped Himalayan range of mountains, gives one a deep sense of contentment, said Elizabeth, nostalgically gazing out of her office window.

Towards the end of the Second World War she returned to England and completed her secondary education at St. Mary's Culne in the picturesque country of Wiltshire.

Soon after graduating in England and Mathematics from Oxford, she left for Hong Kong where she began teaching at a Diocesan school.

Said Elizabeth, "I was there for four years and I loved Hong Kong so much that I returned a second time and served another four years."

Chinese, like Sri Lankans have a great thirst for learning, and it was a great pleasure and rich experience teaching them, she said.

The yearning to establish a junior and secondary educational institution was too much for Elizabeth, and she finally decided to set up the Elizabeth Moir School in 1994. Incidentally, Elizabeth had earlier taught at the British School in the New Delhi diplomatic enclave of "Friend's Colony".

She had met Sri Lanka's foremost diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala, who is today a UN Under Secretary-General.

Jayantha, a friend of hers, had suggested that she establish a school in Colombo. "I did not really come with that intention. It was just for fun. I came at a time when there was a resurgence of the English language and English education. And this was something which encouraged me to set out on the International School project".

"Seeing a big demand, I first started a junior school at Gregory's Road. When I left, there were 1,000, students of ages two to 18".

"Establishing the Elizabeth Moir School was quite a challenge. We began with 30 students and today we have 350, drawn from 30 nationalities.

Elizabeth Moir is a firm believer of the adage "Small is Beautiful".

Hence, the classes are small with a maximum of 20 students each. The family spirit is very precious, says the British educationist, and helps children in building confidence among them.

Elizabeth Moir is of the firm view that a healthy body is a healthy mind, and despite the lack of grounds, the Elizabeth Moir School has a cricket team, of which former Sri Lankan fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake is the coach. In fact, the school is organizing a cricket competition among international schools in January next year.

The debating team has won several awards at a United Nations competition at the BMICH. She welcomes the electronic age and the world of computers and says that students have now far more tools to increase their knowledge rapidly and easily. Access to Internet is a very important development. Elizabeth Moir emphasizes that fact that her students are given the best education and that the standards maintained are the highest.

In fact, nine teachers are past pupils who have won scholarships and qualified aborad. They are all part of a small but vibrant family.

A very interesting facet is that Moir's three children are assisting her in her educational endeavours. Tashi, who is in charge of the junior school at Park Road, holds a Cambridge degree. Sonam, in charge of administration, has a degree from Aberdeen University and Chachimi looks after university admissions and holds a Durham University degree.

Two of the latest achievements internationally by her students are that of Hafiz Milhan and Zeeniya Zayard who have won undergraduate scholarships from the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust in Engineering and Neuro Science.

Elizabeth could not help hide her pride when she said that Hafiz had achieved one of the best results in the world by obtaining 98 per cent overall in Advanced Level Physics.

It was well past lunch hour and as I took leave of her after a very exhilarating 90-minute chat Elizabeth Moir's parting words were, "Small is beautiful. Parents like it.

Teachers like it. The children love it. Everyone is very happy, here".

HNB-Pathum Udanaya2002

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