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| Tuesday, 16 March 2004 |
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St. John's College, Jaffna - celebrating three centenaries by Dr. E. S. Thevasagayam Year 2004 is a landmark year in the life of St. John's as they celebrate three important centenaries. A week long celebrations are being planned for the latter half of March both in Jaffna and Colombo. The school itself was founded 180 years ago in the year 1823 and it took time for other institutions to develop along the line. The three centenaries are:- (a) Old Boys' Association (b) College Magazine (c) St. John's/Central (big match) (a) Old Boys Association Old Boys Associations are the back-bone of every school. The principal depends a great deal on the support of staff, old boys and parents. The Old Boys' Association concept is something drawn from the English Public School System and plays a very important role in the school. In the American System, there is no real equivalent except that there are class re-union, where members of one class-get-together for what they call class re-union. In Old Boys Associations all generations get-together, from the youngest to the oldest. St. John's is fortunate in having very strong supportive Old Boys' Association in Jaffna. Later the South Ceylon was formed. Now old boys being spread through all parts of the world, Associations have been formed in the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. In the 1930s there were large number of old boys in Malaya and Singapore and one recalls the late Rev. Henry Peto and two members of the staff going over to Malaya in the thirties to meet the old boys, they were most cordially received and travelled the length and breadth of the country and came back with a substantial amount towards the development of the school. In my view the loyalty and affection of old boys is directly proportional to the amount of time a student spent outside the classroom. It is not necessary those who excel in the academic field who were most loyal but those who participated in other activities like sports. I may be wrong here. In the same way those who spent years in the boarding house show even greater affection. Students from age 6 to 18 spend their most impressionable and formative years in the school and therefore develop an attachment like to a second home. I once talked to another schoolmate whom I met after 30 years and the conversation was mostly about St. John's. His young son who was listening inquired as what is so great about St. John's that you are so worked up about. I told him, if you don't know, I can't explain. It would be like trying to explain why you love your mother. St. John's has been very fortunate in her old boys for the immense support that they give to the school. (b) College Magazine Every college produces its magazine. It serves three main purposes among others. Firstly it is the record of events in the school. It gives list of staff, results of examinations, results of sports events, prize winners and all other activities of the school. Principal's Report would be a full summary of the happening of that period. So the magazine serves as an archives for the school. In 1995 when the school was bombed and the roof of the library shattered, the cupboard with the old magazines escaped in a part where the roof was intact. Subsequently vandals had ransacked the place and books thrown around. But the cupboard with magazines was untouched. May be that the culprit had the good sense to realise their value and left them alone. Secondly the magazine serves as an opening for creative writing and articles from the lowest to the highest class are published giving the opportunity for students to develop their writing capability. It also gives an opportunity for staff and students to participate in its publication which is a good training. In the early days school produced three magazines each year one for each term. We got our copy on the last day of term. Its size was also close to A5. It was in the late thirties when late Mr. E. C. A. Navaratnarajah was editor that the present format was developed and became an annual issue. Thirdly the magazine serves as a link with old boys. Like a family separated by distance keeping in touch by letters, the magazine serves to keep old boys spread far and wide keep up to-date with the school. (c) St. John's Central Big Match Sports in Jaffna mainly consist of soccer and cricket matches played between schools. Jaffna Schools Sports Association (JSSA) organised inter-school soccer in the common grounds at the esplanade. Cricket matches still were being played limited to about 7 to 8 schools, played as home and away matches within the school. JSSA soccer matches started attracting outside spectators which sometimes resulted in ugly incidents. So some schools withdrew from competitive matches and friendly matches continued. The annual cricket match between St. John's and Jaffna Central, two of the earliest to start cricket in Jaffna, played each other twice each year. When more schools started, it became one encounter each year. The match start attracting members of the sports loving public of Jaffna and gradually grew into a 'bit match' in the early forties. In the recent past this match has attracted large crowds from the public and undoubtedly the biggest sporting event in Jaffna. Because of the large crowds St. John's was unable to host this match in the past two decades as the St. John's grounds are surrounded by school buildings which may become the target of frustrated spectators as it happened once or twice in the past. As the Jaffna Central College Ground is large and can accommodate up to ten thousand spectators, St. John's has agreed to forego the home advantage and play each year at Jaffna Central College Grounds until such time when a stadium in Jaffna becomes reality and the two schools can play on the common grounds. This match now popularly known as a battle of the North still the biggest sporting event in Jaffna providing the much needed outlet for the sports starved public of Jaffna. |
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