- Musaeus College
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Musaeus College 
Follow The LightLocation Colombo 7
Sri LankaInformation Type Private Established 1891 Founder Marie Musaeus Higgins Principal Mrs. S.Dandeniya Gender Girls Age 3 to 18 Colour(s) Gold & Blue Website http://www.musaeus.lk Musaeus College is a private girls' school in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and was named for Mrs Marie Musaeus Higgins (1855 – 10 July 1926), its Principal from 1895 to 1926. Musaeus College is now a leading academic institution with more 4,000 girls from ages 3 to 18, and is managed by a board of trustees. The school's motto is "Follow the Light".
Contents
Early history
The origin of the school can be traced to the Women's Education Society of Ceylon, whose mission was to improve educational opportunities for girls, with instruction in English along Buddhist principles.[1] It had the backing of the Buddhist Theosophical Society, which previously founded the Ananda College for boys along similar lines. With help and guidance from Peter De Abrew and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, they founded the Sangamitta Girls' School at Tichborne Place, Maradana, around 1890, and from the start were anxious to have a European lady as its Principal. Colonel Olcott found a suitable candidate in Kate F. Pickett, the daughter of Mrs Elise Pickett, President of the Melbourne Theosophical Society. Miss Pickett arrived in Colombo on 10 June 1891 and had apparently settled in to life in the school's boarding house when she was found on the morning of 24 June 1891 drowned in a well in the school grounds. After an inquest, the coroner returned an official finding of suicide, despite a lack of evidence, and many indications to the contrary.[2]
Marie Musaeus Higgins, after whom the College was subsequently named, was the daughter of Theodor Musaeus, Chief Justice of Wismar in Mecklenburg, Germany. After having graduated and obtaining the title of Frau Professor, she proceeded to the United States of America and was engaged in educational work there. She married Anton Higgins, an engineer in the US army and a Theosophist. He died less than four years later. Following an advertisement by Col. Olcott in The Path (the magazine of the Buddhist Theosophical Society), she left for Ceylon, arriving on 15 November 1891.[3]
The Musaeus Buddhist Girls' School started in a very simple and modest ‘mud hut’ which served both as living and teaching quarters with 12 students. The ‘hut’ was replaced by a brick building in the year 1895 as a result of a donation from Mr. Wilton Hack. He was a recent convert to Theosophy and around 1892, while in Colombo on his way home to Australia, Hack observed the work being carried out by Mrs. Higgins ("Sudu Amma" to her students[3]), and decided to become involved in its development. He was to remain on the board of trustees until his death in 1923.
The lack of sufficient classrooms had stood in the way of Government assistance. Whenever Mrs Higgins had approached Mr. J. B. Cull, Director of Public Instruction, for funds she was told that without a permanent building she was ineligible for a Grant. Once the fine new hall with its upper storey to serve as a teaching hall and extra dormitory was completed, an annual Government grant to the school followed.
Musaeus and other Schools
Musaeus had a very familial relationship with Ananda College since 1891. Many families who chose to send their sons to Ananda also chose to send their daughters to Musaeus College, and many Old Anandians over the years have married alumni of Musaeus College, Colombo.
Encouraging results
The results of the work of the school were encouraging. It successfully competed with other English Girls’ Schools in all Public Examinations. The year 1897 marks the first success of the school in the Junior Cambridge Local Examination; every year since then the school has distinguished itself not only in the Cambridge Local Examinations, Junior and Senior, but also in the E.S.L.C. and the Royal Academy of Music Examinations.
In 1902, one of the students joined the local Medical College. She was awarded the Jeejeebhoy Scholarship, the first woman student to obtain this Scholarship and the first Sinhalese woman to study medicine.
Another milestone in the school's progress came in 1903, when a few students passed the Government Teachers’ Examination and obtained their Licenses, some to teaching in English, and others in Sinhalese Schools. In the preceding year, these students had qualified in Drawing and passed in that subject in the Examination held by the Government Technical College. These students joined the teaching staff of the school and helped in its work for several years till they returned home to be married.
Distinguished Old Girls
- Vivienne Goonewardena - socialist, feminist, junior minister and Member of Parliament.
- Nita Kumari Pilapitiya - former principle of Musaeus College (1995–2008)[4]
Notable teachers
See also
- Peter De Abrew
References
- ^ Western Women Construct the Eastern Wife and Mother Allen, Douglas Religion and political conflict in South Asia: India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka accessed 25 September 2011
- ^ The Pickett Tragedy The Theosophist Vol XIII No. 4 January 1892 accessed 20 September 2011
- ^ a b 'Sudu Amma' starts a school for Buddhist girls Sunday Times Online 12 November 2006 accessed 25 September 2011
- ^ Nita Kumari Pilapitiya Principal Musaeus College (1995-2008) dailynews.lk
External links
Categories:- Private schools in Sri Lanka
- Girls' schools in Sri Lanka
- Educational institutions established in 1895
- Schools in Colombo
- Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka
- Alumni of Musaeus College
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