by

Dr E S Thevasagayam

It was January 1933 when I first stepped into St. Johns as an eight year old. walking behind my older brother who had just sat for his Cambridge Senior. To meet the Principal Rev Henry Peto I had practised some English conversation earlier, and with fear and trembling I was ushered into his office. I answered a couple of questions and was sent to Mr Manuelpillai in the office, to register myself the same morning. I found myself in what was called 1st year class of that formidable teacher of English Mr C C Jell.

There was a vernacular school run by the CMS where the lower school is now located. Which was not part of St. Johns and served all children of the area, both Christian and Hindu boys and girls. Starting as five year olds, there were about 100 children in four classes. Once through we all found automatic admission either to St Johns or Chundikuli. My late father Mr. Eliathamby being Head Master of this school was of little consequence as far as my admission was concerned.

There was also another set of mostly Christian children who came after their first years at Chundikuli Girls' College. They were usually better than us in English arid we were certainly ahead of them in Arithmetic and Tamil. where the vernacular school gave a better foundation in the three R's getting all the emphasis. In the first year at school, we learnt to write the alphabet on sand and later graduated to slate. It would be of interest to note here that St John's Church roof was covered with slate from Portugal when it was originally built. By 1933, the roof of the main building had been replaced by tiles but the vestry part still retained the slate till the forties when that also was replaced. Because of this St John's was referred to a "slatu pallikoodam" (slate school). The slate from the church was dumped in the grave yard just behind the museum. Few boys were adept cutting it to size, making a frame and using it in class. I recall using one of these recycled slates. Only in the fourth year we graduated to exercise books and pencil.

All teaching was in Tamil and my father used to collect the fourth year boys and girls to come after school (which closed at 1 pm) for English classes which of course was given free. So we had a little knowledge of English when we came to St Johns where all teaching was in English. How well we picked up the language, especially with teachers like Mr. Jell. Grammar and spelling was so instilled that they stand us in good stead even today. Spoken English took much longer to take hold. Once we were in Form I, there was a Tamil speaking monitor who would note down the names of boys who spoke in Tamil once inside the class room and the teacher would fine one cent for each offence. This was how we at St. John's were compelled to speak in English and improve.

Classes were named 1st Yr.. 2nd Yr., 5th Standard, 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 forms. From form 2 the better students went on to form 4 where they sat for the Cambridge Junior, later replaced by the Local Junior School Certificate in 1937. The others went on to form 4 via form 3 which was also called the remove form. Forms 5 and 6 prepared for either the Cambridge Senior (CS) or the London Matriculation (LM). The. LM was held twice an year in January and June. The top students were permitted to sit for the June examination one and a half years after the junior, in June. To sit for the LM one had to be 16 years old and so those who had not reached that age sat for the CS. 1940 January. the year I sat for the LM. war had broken out, and the papers sent to London by ship were delayed. The results had not come by the time the June exam was held. Everyone (except me) who had sat for the January exam there fore, sat the June exam also.

There was so much emphasis in English that Tamil was neglected. One could pass either LM or CS without Tamil, and many opted for Latin as a second language which was taught till the mother tongue became compulsory. Peto himself, being a Classics man, taught Latin along with Messers Subramaniam and Rajasekaram There were many Tamil children, who came from Chundikuli Girls' College or Colombo who would pride themselves saying they did not know Tamil. A system was followed in the school by which a student may progress in class but not in Tamil and be kept back. So Tamil was taught during the first period in the afternoon throughout the school and students attended the Tami] class to which they belonged. It was not unusual for a boy from form 5 to come down to form 1 for the Tamil class. The Tamil taught was just geared to the LM syllabus where one had to do an essay, two translations, and a correction of errors, just to suit to examiners in London who were mostly retired missionaries with a little knowledge of Tamil. It was only when Mr. Subramaniam joined the staff that real Tamil was taught and we had some exposure to Tamil literature of which we had no clues up till then. This was done although it was not required for the exam. English being the medium of instruction there was always Sinhalese students especially from the Vanni far South as Anuradhapura where there were no good schools. The two communities mixed very freely especially in the hostels where lasting friendships were made. The Sinhalese boys and girls learnt to speak Tamil with the Tamil accent. The most distinguished among our own is Hon. Maithripala Senanayake, an elder statesman - in the country having held the highest positions in the land for nearly half a century and now serves as the Governor of North Central Province. The present Speaker Hon. K.B. Ratnayake is a product of Hartley who speaks Tamil just like any one of us. This mixture of communities was lost with the introduction of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction.

St John's was also the first school in Jaffna to start teaching Sinhalese in 1941 for those in the highest form. I was in that first batch with young Mr. C.H.. Gunawardena, the first teacher. CGC and other schools followed thereafter. This was discontinued as a protest in 1956 when the Sinhalese only bill was passed in Parliament.

From the inception of the school, Christian religion was an important part of the school curriculum, even for the non-Christians. Every one was taught the Scripture and a prize offered. Each morning there was the assembly started with a hymn, followed by a talk by a teacher and prayer. On Thursday mornings we even had hymn practice. It was compulsory for every boarder including non-Christians to attend the College church service each Sunday. All this was given up with the introduction of the conscience clause in the State Council in the forties. After this, when Christians had Scripture, the others had a class in Civics. During Sunday service, non-Christians boarders had to attend study. Today according to the law, each child is taught its own religion in the school. In the thirties, there was also the system of weekly reports and each teacher gave marks out often and a report was given to the student each Friday. An order of merit list was sent to the vice principal, Mr.A.M.K.Coomarasamy who would visit each class on Friday with this list in one hand and a cane in the other. He would congratulate the first boy and ask him to keep it up. The second and third would be encouraged to beat him next week, the ones at the bottom, if for a few weeks in succession, were given a number of 'cuts' with the cane.

The cane was an important feature of the education system on those days. There was always a cane available in the office along with a punishment book. For any offence either in class work or discipline, the monitor had to fetch the cane and the teacher gave a certain number of 'cuts', on the hand as determined by him. He had to enter the offence and the number of cuts in the punishment book to be scrutiniscd by the Vice Principal. A few teachers used the cane as a matter of routine which became meaningless but others sparingly with some effect. Often it did hurt. By the forties during the Principalship of Rev. J.T. Arulanantham (JTA) the system was changed and the teacher had to use the cane after the class in the office. By this time the teacher would have cooled down and may forget the whole episode. Also he would riot like to be seen caning too often by the Vice Principal and the use of the cane by teachers died a slow death. But even today a teacher may send a boy to be caned by the Vice Principal who would usually oblige. The practice should be given up completely. Of course, in those days up to about the forties, parents themselves would encourage the teachers to use the cane liberally on their errant children. Times have changed and parents will not accept caning by a teacher. There was also public caning by the Principal for serious offences which would pass off as rather minor today. A special assembly would be called, a good lecture given by the Principal and the offender called up to the platform, bends over on the Principals table and gets six good ones on his bottom. If there was some forewarning, the offender may wear an extra pair of shorts to lessen the pain. The second level was when the assembly was called followed by the same lecture and the offender asked to march off to the Principal's bungalow with the entire assembly watching. The Principal will follow him there to give the punishment. Once I recall the first degree was given to three senior boys who had run away from home and finally caught at Elephant Pass by a school clerk, brought back and caned publicly. The second degree was given to a train boy (many used to come by train those days) who had eased himself on the overhead bridge at Jaffna station, caught and reported to the Principal by telephone. By the time the boy reached the school, punishment was ready for him and at first he did not have a clue as to his offence.

1936 was a landmark year for St. John's when what was formerly Chundikuli Girls' College (CGC) was reclaimed and they moved to their present premises. That whole area from the Chaplain's quarters on Old Park Road. including the Vice Principal's bungalow Figg Hall, Evarts House, etc, which had 'been separated from St John's by a cadjan fence was taken back. I recall Mr.S. Sivaprakasam had just assumed duties as headmaster of the school, succeeding Mr.J.C.Handy. He lined up about 200 students and all the bricks from the demolished buildings, were passed from hand to hand to the area by the, side of the Chaplain's quarters.

Incidentally, what we now call the Chaplain's quarters was the original Handy Memorial Library. When the library moved to the present site, it was converted into the armoury where the rifles and other paraphernalia of the Cadet Corps were kept. In 1948, when Mahendra Theatre was built against all opposition by the school, the main gate of the school was shifted from Main Street to Old Park Road and the office occupied this building, and the armoury was, shifted to the present staff room block. The Office was again shifted back to its original place in the present Library Block and later moved to the Twynam Museum. From then on that building was occupied by successive chaplains and later by other staff. Rev. Herbert Keuneman when he was Chaplain in 1947 occupied part of the Vice Principal's bungalow. The armoury had to be handed over when Cadeting was withdrawn from school when we opted to be private at the schools take over in 1960.

A word about the Twynam Museum. Twynam. a British Government Agent of Jaffna put up the building in SJC campus and filled it with artefacts for a museum, all at his own expense. It had its separate entrance from Main Street and can be seen even now where the main door has been walled over. It was completely separated from the school and open to the public. Around the late forties the Government decided to move the contents to Jaffna museum to a building on Main Street Jaffna town. The building therefore. according to the original will of Mr. Twynam reverted to St. Johns and the office was shifted there and still remains there.

1940 was another crucial year for St John's. War had broken out in Europe in September 1939 and Peto's two older sons were old enough to be mobilised. Mrs Peto and the Sons were at this time in England. Mrs Peto usually remained in Iaffna with her husband and taught English and singing from the bungalow, to lower school boys and I was one of her students. Their older son, Morton even attended St. John's for a brief period. On the day war broke out, Peto tripped on the tennis court tape. fell and broke a leg. Peto had a slight defect in the right foot, may be a slight drop foot and he always wore boots on that leg with a spring attached from the upper portion to the level of the lace. This helped him to walk normally, with just a slight limp. He was taken to the Jaffna hospital which consisted of just two wards those days. It was no help and he was persuaded to take native treatment for which an old Boy Dr. Ramanathan had a famous hospital at Nayanmarkadu. Peto was brought back to the bungalow and with Dr. Ramanathan's treatment. was back in harness in a month's time.

In June 1940, tragedy struck when Peto died in a drowning accident at Thondaimanaru where he had gone for a swim with his sister-in-law Miss Kelk and the two Van den Driesen ladies. Apparently he had a heart attack while exerting himself trying to swim back to the shore. Peto who had completed twenty years of service, had just planned a rebuilding of the Robert Williams Hall as a first step in other renovations and improvements. That Saturday morning I recall, I had gone to the school and saw Peto giving instructions to Vellasamy (our lab assistant and all purpose man) to remove the electrical wiring before the renovations could start. Peto never returned and the work was abandoned for the present. He did not live to see the fulfillment of his plans for the College. A gloom fell over the school and everyone was in state of shock. There was a grand funeral, the likes of which Jaffna had not witnessed before. The body lay in state in the Hall for two days with the Cadets providing the guard of honour. The hearse was drawn from the hall all the way round the school to Old Park Road, Kandy Road and Main Street to the cemetery to be laid in rest there.

Immediately there was speculation about a successor. Many old boys expected another CMS missionary to be sent out as always. Peto had sent out Rev. J.T. Arulanantham (JTA) in 1935 for post graduate studies in Cambridge. Therefore he was one of the candidates. The Governing Body's choice was JTA and Rev. Stopforth, the Principal of Trinity College and our Manager came to announce the appointment of the first national Principal. In order to satisfy those who still wanted a missionary, they offered Mr. P.C. Gaussen as Vice Principal. Naturally there was not too much enthusiasm among old boys and others who could not imagine one of their own at the helm.

There followed some very difficult years for JTA. Some elements of the OBA Jaffna were carrying on a negative campaign against the appointment. I even recall there were pamphlets put out when JTA decided to replace the cadjan fence on Old Park Road by a wall; Some had personal reasons and used the OBA to promote this campaign. JTA rode the storm and began his stewardship in right earnest. In 1942, there was a strike and fast by the senior boarders who were in Evarts House who refused to move to Fleming. They had a lot of support from those opposed to JTA. The fast itself was a farce as the boarders. although they did not go to the dining hail, were well supplied through the fence by friends. After one week of this drama, all of them were sent home and their parents written to and an undertaking obtained before they were readmitted. They all came back. All this was a testing time for the new Principal. Once established, he carried on for seventeen glorious years till retirement. During his tenure, the school grew in numbers and stature, several new buildings came up and others bought. From just under 450 students in 1940, the school had reached 1500 by the time JTA retired.

The Mahendra Theatre episode is worth recounting. The owners decided to build a theatre in 1947, right opposite the school and Church. We protested but it was of no avail. The Mayor of Jaffna at that time quoted the example of Savoy cinema right opposite St Peter's College, Colombo. Colombo was an entirely different situation. But we failed and the theatre came up. All that we could do was to prohibit our staff and students from attending shows there. The staff more or less adhered but the students did break the rule and attended with parents or alone. In any event the owners miscalculated when they built a cinema in Chundikuli as most of the population were not cinema goers as those in town which were patronised by large crowds who invariably saw Tamil films several times. The cinema was losing money. One of our teachers quipped that Mahendra Theatre whose logo was displayed 'MT' really stood for 'empty'. When the owners decided to close, the building was offered to St John's. At this time JTA summoned me from Maha Illupallama where I was working and asked me for advice. He said that he had just consulted Mr.C. Suntheralingam (Old Boy and M.P.) who had advised him to buy. I too gave the same advice and when I asked him about money, he said that we do not have any but it will come. That was how the theatre was acquired, used as Peto Hostel for some time and later converted into the Academy. It was good decision by a man who had foresight and it has paid off well.

1947, I came back after my degree at Madras Christian College as the first local teacher in Zoology in Jaffna, of course after Dr. Thilliampalam. During my five years as teacher. I was also in charge of Fleming House. Living in the campus I was in close contact with JTA who used me in several capacities, well ahead of my time. I was just 24 years old when I was appointed Prefect of Games and given several other responsibilities. It was during my very close association with JTA, I was able to persuade him to introduce three things in the school.

I. The Honours system for prizes - The practice was to give the prize for the first boy in the class. The second boy in A' division may be better than the first in the 'B' division but did not get a prize. So a system was introduced by which all those - in the two divisions who obtained over 650/o were placed in the honours list received prizes. In addition subject prizes were also gradually introduced. It worked very well but gradually the system became eroded with the change in marking and objective type of questions, when sometimes up to half the class obtained over 65% and were given the General Proficiency prize. In 1988, while I was principal I had to revamp the system again to increase the minimum marks to make the prize a little meaningful.

2. Introduction of the group events system in sports - An idea I borrowed from Madras Christian College to have more participation, with three from each house for each field event. The total performance of the three was taken for house points. Also instead of 5,3 and 1 point for 1st 2nd 3rd the system was changed to 4,3,2, and 1 point for 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th places. This also encouraged more participation and one or two outstanding athletes in a house could not carry the house with them. A house which produced two athletes who got 2nd and 3rd places (3+2=5points) would outscore one 1st place with 4 points. Individual performances also got their prizes. The system is still used fifty years later.

3. Introduction of Basketball - Basketball was unknown in Jaffna in the forties. Dr.Holmes an American Missionary' introduced it into Jaffna College in 1947. Fresh from Madras Christian College where it was a very popular game., I decided to introduce it at SJC Fortunately Mr. Matthews. who was a brilliant member of the MCC team joined our staff and helped. In the beginning Jaffna College and we used to play a game every six months with Dr. Holmes playing for Jaffna College and Matthews and myself from the staff playing for SJC. It soon caught on and most schools started Basketball thereafter.

1948 was also the 125th Anniversary which was celebrated in style, in which I took a leading part as a member of the staff. The highlights were the prize day, a science exhibition and a garden party for about 500 guests in addition to the usual annual events. In 1951 I left the school to join the Government as a Research officer but kept close contact with the school both while in Sri Lanka and later working abroad. Being abroad I could not participate in the 150th Anniversary in 1973. This is the time when the Jubilee hall was built. When I was approached as an old boy for contribution. I wrote to the Principal at that time that there was no need for another hall and we had one already and there were many other priorities. My contribution was therefore a classroom in the Arulanantham Block. But the OBA at that time overruled him and went ahead and built this excellent hall with the worst possible acoustics. In any case both in the 1987 IPKF operation as well as the Sri Lankan army operations in 1995, the Jubilee Hall was badly damaged and unusable. We managed very well with Robert Williams Hall and the Jubilee Hall was not missed.

1960 was a traumatic year in the history of St. Johns with the schools take over by the Government. We decided to go private non-fee levying and the following years were probably the most difficult years in the history of the school. As not being fully involved, I will let others write about this as well as the more recent history.

1988 to 1992 were most memorable years for me at least, when I went back to SJC as Principal. I arrived in January 1988, when the school was in shambles, devastated by the IPKF operation. IPKF promised to repair the damaged buildings and completed all but the laboratory by February 1988. They were about to start the Biology and Chemistry labs which were flattened. A quick decision had to be made to either repair or rebuild. With a lot of prayer and advice I decided that we will completely re-build. It was a dream, with no money in hand. I recalled the time when JTA bought Mahendra theatre and I was tutored by him. With the help of the late Engineer Canagarajah, a dedicated old boy, we dreamed .up a completely new Science Complex with six laboratories and twelve class rooms incorporating a sports pavilion for which the OBA had collected funds in memory of the late Mr. Anandarajan. Money started coming from various sources mostly from overseas. By the time the second war broke out in 1990, almost 75% of the project was completed and funds were available for the entire project. It had to be stopped for want of cement. But slowly and steadily carpentry work was continued and now it is almost complete. It will be called Arulanantham Memorial Science Complex because in my estimation, JTA was the greatest Principal we have had at least in the past 75 years, most of which period I have had personal .knowledge. Also his son Dr. Karunyan , has contributed substantially towards this project. It will be a fitting tribute to the first national Principal who brought this school from being one of the leading schools in Jaffna to the best. I am sure we will be able to declare it open during the 175th Ariniversary celebrations in May 1998.