D. S. Senanayake College ( டி.எஸ் சேனாநாயக்க கல்லூரி ''D. S. Senanayaka Vidyalaya'', also referred to as DS and DSSC) is a boys'

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

national school in

Cinnamon Gardens Cinnamon Gardens ( si, කුරුඳු වත්ත ''Kurundu Vaththa'', ta, கறுவாத் தோட்டம்) is an affluent neighbourhood in Colombo, Sri Lanka located 3 kilometers south-east from Colombo's centre. Cinnamon Gard ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

, Sri Lanka. It was established on 10 February 1967 under the stewardship of

R. I. T. Alles Ralph Ignatius Thomas Alles (3 October 1932 − 28 November 2013) was a Sri Lankan educationalist. He served as the State Secretary for Ministry of Education from 1989 to 1993, was the founding principal of D. S. Senanayake College Colombo 07, a ...

, and was named after the first

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka The Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head and most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's executive branch behind the president, wh ...

D. S. Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake ( si, දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක,; ta, டி. எஸ். சேனநாயக்கா; 21 October 1884 – 22 March 1952) was a Ceylonese statesman. He was the first Prime Mi ...

. It provides education from Grades 1 to 13 in

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

and English language. It is the only muti-ethnic, trilingual school established in Sri Lanka in the post-independence era and the largest multi-ethnic school in the country. Its street name was formerly known as Gregory Road but was renamed to R. G. Senanayake Mawatha in 2013.

History

In 1965, the number of requests to admit children into the Royal College Primary had become excessive. Thus the Minister of Education I. M. R. A. Iriyagolla took the initiative to build a new school in

on the lines of

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

. In 1967, Minister Iriyagolla began the ground work for establishing the school. It was named after

, who was the first

(then

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

) after gaining independence.

, an assistant principal at Royal College became the

head teacher A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

of the new school. The location in which the college stands today was at that time called the Kumbikale jungle. As a resolution the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

had taken a decision to increase the number of primary schools, to meet with the increasing demand of parents enrolling their children to Colombo schools. The secretary of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, M. J. Perera, was assigned to find a suitable plot of land to start the new school. Accordingly the empty plot of land situated down the Gregory's road normally "Kubi Kelle" adjoining Kinsy road was selected for the purpose with another land bounded the said premises which belonged to the Ministry of Defense and also was acquired building plans were prepared and implemented by the state engineering co - operation. Alles who had been an assistant teacher at Royal College had been appointed as the principal of D. S. Senanayake College. He was helped by the principal of Royal College, B. Premarathne. The cadet platoon of the Royal College also cleaned the land holding a shramadana. Five assistant teachers and office equipment were donated by the

Royal College A royal college in some Commonwealth countries is technically a college which has received royal patronage and permission to use the prefix ''royal''. Permission is usually granted through a royal charter. The charter normally confers a constituti ...

Coat of arms

The school's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is a shield which is partitioned into two parts. The upper section has the lion of the

Sri Lankan flag The flag of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජාතික කොඩිය, translit=Śrī Laṃkāvē jāthika kodiya; ta, இலங்கையின் தேசியக்கொடி, translit=Ilankaiyin teciyakkoṭi ...

and the lower section has an

oil lamp An oil lamp is a lamp used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times. Th ...

. A wreath of

paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *An List of ethnic slurs#P, ethnic slur for an Irishman Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird ...

is partially encircling the shield and the motto "Country Before Self" is in a scroll. Some decades back, the crown of the

Kandyan Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

monarch which is depicted in the crest of

, was depicted in the school's crest as well.

Principals of D. S. Senanayake College since 1967

1967 - 1982

1982 - 1984

P. Samaranayake

1984 - 1989

S. M. A. J. A. Mayadunne

1989 - 1992

R. I. T. Alles

1992 - 1995

Somabandu Kodikara

1995 - 1999

G. C. Adikari

1999 - 2010

Asoka Senani Hewage

2010 - 2016

D. M. D. Dissanayake

2016 - 2018

R. M. M. Rathnayake

2023 - present

Sampath Weeragoda

Houses

The school has a

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...

comprising four houses. Students are allocated to a house according to their admission number. They compete each year to win the Inter-house Competitions. * – Shura (ශූර) * – Meththa (මෙත්ත) * – Weera (වීර) * – Shantha (ශාන්ත)

The Old Boys Association (OBA)

The first batch of students left the college in 1979 and the OBA was formed thereafter. The first president of the Association was Ranjan Perera, CEO of SoftLogic. OBA celebrated its 25th year in 2005.

School Flag

The colour of the school flag, royal gold and black which symbolises discipline was suggested by the founding principal,

, and the school logo was also designed according to his idea. The lion in the in the logo symbolises the bravery of students, the lamp wisdom and two bunches of paddy symbolise prosperity.

Hostel

The school has a hostel which provides accommodation to over 200 students. The hostel was opened in January 2003 by the Minister of Education, Karunasena Kodituwakku. The students were admitted to the hostel for the first time in February 2003. It officially opened doors on the 10 February 2003, which was the 36th birthday of the school. The first housemaster was J. A. K. Janakantha and the first deputy principal who resided was S. A. Galappaththi. At the beginning 25 hostellers were accommodated and by 2009 the number of hostellers accommodated was more than one hundred. 2010 enrollment was 129 wards. In 2006 D. M. D. Dissanayake resided at the hostel as the deputy principal, who was appointed as the principal in September 2010. The first Warden appointed to the hostel by the Ministry of Education was Roy Nalinda in 2009.

School magazine

''Siyapatha'' is the official publication of the college, published by Media Circle. It began in 2001 and is published quarterly.Siyapatha Magazine
/ref>

Notable alumni

References

External links

* * {{Official website, http://www.dsscoba.com/, Old Boys' Association website
Class of 1989 alumni website

Siyapatha Magazine
Schools in Colombo National schools in Sri Lanka Educational institutions established in 1967 1967 establishments in Ceylon Boys' schools in Sri Lanka