Mould a child and he will not change - Principal St. John’s

S. Kathirgamathamby Jaffna special correspondent

JAFFNA: Mould a child in the right way and when he is old enough he will not change, said Rev N. J. Gnanaponrajah, Principal St. John’s College presenting his report at the annual prize giving of the college.

Professor Pon. Balasundarampillai Emeritus Senior Professor of Geography and former Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University was the chief guest and Mrs. Rajalakshmi Balasudnarampillai gave away the prizes. Ven. S. P. Nesakumar Archdeacon of Jaffna presided.

Rev. Gnanaponrajah in his report said St. John’s College had enjoyed the excellent leadership of many outstanding principals who set a high standard in discipline and academic excellence. The vision of St. John’s had been to create the ethos for students to attain excellence spiritually, academically, morally and socially.

St. John’s mission was to lead, motivate and provide training to achieve the vision.

Her aim was to holistically nurture body, mind and spirit to enrich and empower individuals to discover their talents, skills and abilities and enable them to attain their full potential and develop a value based personality.

He said that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Students should emulate the good norms and practices of their parents. Their counselling would adorn them as a diadem on their head or a necklace round their neck. They should cultivate the wisdom within them and seek the way for spiritual regeneration.

The principal said we should not think that spirituality is for elders. Spirituality springs from the very womb of our mother. It is the duty of every parent to inculcate wisdom when the baby is in the womb and this should continue.

Addressing the students he said that even in trivial matters they should distinguish the good from the evil and cultivate the acquisition of serene wisdom. “Let not the thoughts of evil infiltrate your heart.

March towards the dictum of our school, uphold discipline, accrue knowledge and efficiency through the portals of spiritualism. Have ideal dreams about how you are going to mould your life and have faith that the dream will be a reality one day.”