Rahula PPA celebrates Golden Jubilee

Ariya Rubasinghe

The Colombo Branch of the Past Pupils Association of Rahula College, Matara, the oldest Colombo branch of outstation schools' past pupils association celebrates its golden jubilee this year.

The association was established after a meeting held with the participation of about 50 old Rahulites conceptualized by Ranjith Dheeraratne, a student of Rahula, who was studying at Law College, Colombo at the time. He later became one of the most respected judges of the Supreme Court.

The objective of the PPA Branch which has over 1,500 members with prestigious personalities, is to re-unite and connect the past pupils of Rahula, to build lifelong relationships and to support the vision and mission of Rahula.

Today, the Colombo PPA Branch is a diverse group with well known personalities.

PPA Colombo has awarded over 1,000 scholarships to students of Rahula since 1975, at a cost of over Rs 6.5 million, supporting their tertiary education. They are annually being offered in memory of past principals, teachers and several past pupils of Rahula by the members of the PPA Colombo Branch.

In addition, hundreds of underprivileged young boys, who passed the Grade 5 scholarship examination with excellent results from some of the most rural schools in Ruhuna, fortunate to enter Rahula, also annually receive financial and material support from the PPA. A foster parent scheme of the PPA takes care of the education and other aspects of well-being of dozens of children with exceptional competence and skills.

PPA has also developed a unique culture to recognize and pay respect to its members who have reached the peak in different fields of importance. They were awarded the title Rahulabhimani .

The Colombo Branch also promotes sports at Rahula College, with financial and material contribution and regular sponsorship of events, training activities and procurement of the needs of games and events. The PPA has been partnering in holding the Annual Colonel Henry Olcott Cricket Tournament with other leading schools such as Ananda, Nalanda, Dharmaraja, Dharmapala, Dharmasoka and Maliyadeva.

The annual work programme of the PPA includes other activities such as blood donation campaigns, cultural pageants, Members' Day celebrations and annual trip.