Ladies College, Colombo

Ladies' College is a private girls' school in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

It was founded by the Church Missionary Society in 1900. Since its inception, education in the school has been rooted firmly in the beliefs of one of its founders, Ms Lilian Nixon, that the school must be a place for three things:

"A place for sound learning, a place for a full, varied and natural life and a place for spiritual growth within the life of the church." [LADIES’ COLLEGE A Centennial Narrative 1900 – 2000 Edited by Ranjini Obeyesekere] In keeping with this, students of Ladies' College have been taught that education of the mind is worthless without education of the body, heart and soul.

The school also has a long tradition of fostering multi-cultural and multi-ethnic harmony.Rich in history and tradition, Ladies' College has been constantly evolving and embracing new trends.

The school uniform of Ladies' College is a white, square-neck sleeveless dress.

History

The history of Ladies’ College 1900 -2000 has been reviewed in the context of the development of women’s education in last century.

[LADIES’ COLLEGEA Centennial Narrative 1900 – 2000Edited by Ranjini Obeyesekere]

‘….several issues fascinated us. ………………………How a Christian Missionary school like Ladies’ College, established in 1900 within a colonial ethos, adapted itself to the social, cultural, and economic changes that were ushered in with independence in 1947?

How did the school come to terms with the subsequent shifts in educational policy by successive governments especially during the second half of the last century?

How did the school cope with such dramatic changes and do so while still remaining geared to the national system of education?

How did Ladies College not only survive for a period of a hundred years, but grow from strength to strength?

In spite of being a small fee levying school (numbers not exceeding 1500 in year 2000), how was it able to provide the country with a galaxy of talented competent and efficient young women who often have been pioneers in their respective fields and held positions of high office both in the national and international sphere? The range of their activities were wide and varied . Their contributions were of considerable significance. What were the values inculcated by the school that make such success possible?..........................

[LADIES’ COLLEGEA Centennial Narrative 1900 – 2000Edited by Ranjini Obeyesekere]

Lilian Nixon (Principal 1900 -1923)

Ladies College begins with Lilian Nixon a young Irish woman of 26, fired with a belief in the importance of education for women, and with the courage and the vision to come out to a far-flung colony of the British Empire Ceylon to found a school for women. Ladies College was founded by her in 1900 in a large bungalow in Union Place, Slave Island, in Colombo. Two students enrolled! Now a hundred years later,a hundred years of phenomenal growth and substantial achievements in women’s education we look back with wonder and humility at the courage, vision and the faith that made it all possible.

Though herself a devout Christian with a strong belief in the primacy of the Christian religion, Lilian Nixon still established a tradition of openness and religious and ethnic tolerance that has remained unchanged in spite of the changing pressures of the passing years 1914 Lilian Nixon resigns due to ill health. Ladies College registered as a Grant in Aid school Miss Nixon was not only the founder of Ladies’ College but she laid the groundwork for much that has grown and developed over the years and yet has remained fundamentally unchanged

Gwen Opie ( Principal) 1917-1944

The period 1917 – 1944 for Ladies College was marked with the stewardship of yet another great Principal, Miss Gwen Opie. It was a period of enormous expansion both in terms of physical space (a number of new buildings), and in terms of the school’s academic and extra curricular activities.

Once Ladies College was fully established as a Grant-in-Aid school and fast earning a reputation for its high quality, Miss Opie embarked on an ambitious schemeof buildings for the school with the increasing numbers of pupils in the school.State grants meant that the enormous financial burdens Lilian Nixon had faced were eased. In keeping with the tradition of involvement in the larger community which had been the founding principle of the school, Miss Opie played an increasingly important role serving on numerous committees in an age of governance by committees. The functions of these committees described as “to advise, to inquire, to negotiate, to legislate to administer, to scrutinize and to control.”

1944 Miss Opie died and was buried in General Cemetery Kanatte Miss Rita Opie takes over as acting principa Miss Opie’s hardest task and major contribution lay in the manner in which she successfully guided the school through changes involved in becoming a “Grant-in-Aid” school both conforming to the regulations of the Department of Education and helping to influence its policies.

Mabel E Simon ( Principal 1946-1968)

In 1945 there was a push towards social egalitarianism a proposal to abolish tuition fees in all state aided denominational schools. Facilities in terms of teachers and equipment would be determined by the state which would bear the cost of the running of the school.

For Ladies’ College whose superior quality arose from the high teacher student ratio, the wide choice of subjects right up to the Senior certificate class and for other types of specialist teaching, such governmental restrictions in the number and choice of teachers or the courses taught could be stultifying. “It was a major decision for the school to take, fraught with financial and other problems but the next half century was to prove that it was the right one.” [LADIES’ COLLEGEA Centennial Narrative 1900 – 2000Edited by Ranjini Obeyesekere]

In line with her views on a liberal humanistic education Miss Simon insisted that science students must be given a good general education. How far seeing such an attitude was in a world of increasing pressure for narrow specialization is seen in the products of that era, students who straddled more than one discipline and excelled in all of them.Her constant attempts to keep Ladies College though a private institution within the rubric of the nation’s educational system is seen in Miss Simon’s vision for the school not just as an oasis of ethnic harmony but as part of the larger society. She saw the twofold task of the school to be that of ‘helping the young to grow into their adult roles and secondly to pass on the morals of society the culture and tradition of a nation. “The efforts to mitigate the evils of division inherent in teaching in three languages in a multi racial school, have proved effective. The fellowship engendered in Ladies” College remained unbroken during the may riots: only friendliness, co-operation and helpfulness were shown among pupils, staff and servants.” In a year of ethnic tensions Miss Simon stressed the development of a sense of community, a social conscience, and a desire for social justice - lessons well learned and very necessary in the years to come. 1964 Miss Hitchcock appointed acting Principal Always supportive of the unusual, differently gifted, or not academically oriented student, Miss Simon pushed to set up pre-vocational guidance services that would lead on to vocational guidance and help such students follow new paths and find new careers.

Olive Hitchcock 1964-1968

Olive Hitchcock was appointed acting Principal in 1964 on the retirement of Miss Simon.

She was Miss Simon’s trusted lieutenant and advisor during the difficult years of shifting educational policy. Her sensitivity to the changes taking place in the wider society are reflected in the unobtrusive manner in which she introduced a greater degree of cultural openness than in the Simon era and a willingness to move in the direction of indigenization. It was a subtle shift away from the colonial ethos.

Mrs. Sirancee Gunawardena (Principal 1968-1998)

The decade that followed Mrs. Gunawardena’s appointment as Principal saw a further change of course in the country, to a policy of increasing State control. It was followed eight years later by an about turn to a liberalized economy that encouraged private enterprise. Despite the radically different stance that each government adopted both continued to focus on the provision of education to the less privileged on an island wide scale.

Together with encouragement of sports activities there was the development of aesthetics. A rich tradition of Music Drama and Singing in English and more recently in the second half of the century in Sinhala and Tamil was encouraged by Principals and Vice Principals.’ Whilst the need for English was downgraded in State schools Ladies College saw fit to continue to view English as a modern living language and as the link language of a multi-ethnic multi religious and multi lingual family from varied social and political backgrounds. English therefore continued to be used as the medium of communication at all gatherings. ‘The most important fund raising project was in 1975 when the OGA collected money to establish the Department of Vocational Studies. This was to serve both the school and the community. It arose out of a need to cater to students who did not wish to continue at the universities. It also catered to a need in the wider community and society at large – equipping young people with the necessary skills to function effectively in their workplaces.’

[LADIES’ COLLEGEA Centennial Narrative 1900 – 2000Edited by Ranjini Obeyesekere]

References

External links

* [http://www.ladiescollege.lk/history/history.html History of Ladies' College]