Generally, the opening or a new decade is accompanied by hopes and wishes by nations and individuals for better times. Not so the eighties. People knew they were in for a difficult period of anxiety, conflict, stagnation nod recession. Nor wore they wrong. The recent events in Afghanistan, Kampuchea, Laos, and the various trouble spots in the Middle East & Africa have clearly proved that it was futile to hope for a period of peace and-prosperity, at least for the next few years.

But for St. John's, 1980 to 1983 have been memorable years. They started 1980 by becoming the All Island Science Quiz champions, beating Royal College in the finals and Hindu College in the semi-finals, a really creditable performance. In 1981, their Advanced Level Results were the best in the island. But let us go in chronological order. In 1979, there were two A/L exams. (old & new syllabus) held in April & August. Their results were published in I980. At the April exam, of 90 who sat from St. John's, 49 passed in 3 or 4 subjects and in the August exam 53 out of 66 passed in 3 or 4 subjects, a praiseworthy performance. At this exam S. Kathirgamanathan obtained distinctions in all 4 subjects and two others had 3 distinctions each. Ultimately 24 ware selected to enter the University. At the 1980 A. L. exam (results published in 1981) 97 out of 149 passed in 3 or 4 subjects. In spite of the district quota policy adopted with regards to university admission, 31 from St. John's were selected. The Biology students (which includes students for medical entrance) especially kept the Johnian flag flying when 13 of them were selected on merit alone. Of these 9 students cane within the first 30 in the merit list in the whole island. The 1st, 2nd & 4th places in this list were filled by Johnians, with B. Logan Kanagaratnam topping the list with 341 marks out of a possible 400. B. Logan Kanagaratnam, A. Ramanathan, N. SriKumar and V. Kathirgamanathan (Maths) all obtained 4 distinctions. It deserves mention that in the whole of Sri Lanka, only 3 Biology students obtained distinctions in all 4 subjects and all of them hailed from St. John's. In addition to these, 5 others obtained distinctions in 3 subjects. This performance at the 1980 A/L exam was the best in Sri Lanka. A further 13 students were selected to the Colombo North Private Medical College. At the 1981 A/L exam. too, 31 entered the University from St. John's, with N. Sounthayan & M. N. Jeyapalan obtaining 4 distinctions in the Maths Science group. Of those who entered the in 1981 (on AIL 1980 exam) 5 obtained Mahapola Scholarships, while the following year too 5 obtained Mahapola Scholarships, all of them on merit.

In 1980, Logan Kanagaratnam won an award of Rs.2,000/- granted by the Field Work Centre, Thondamannaru to do a project in Science, and K. Sanjayan won the 2nd prize for an essay in Science organized by the Field Centre. At the Northern Province Elocution contests, 4 Johnians won 1st places and 2 obtained second places. At the Art competition held in connection with Children's Day celebrations, Johnians won the 1st prize in the under 12 years group and 2nd prize in the over 12 group. The College also won the 'Do You Know' contest and in the Shakespeare Drama Contest organised by the Lions & Y. M. C. A. they were runners-up in 1980 & Champions in 1981. When the Rotary Club of Jaffna had its Youth Week, the St. John's College Inter Act Club won the cup for the best drama presented. Their Debating team won the shield for the best debating team. The Best Actor & Best Debater were also from St. John's. Another commendable performance was that of Nirthanan Selvanayagam who won the 1st prize at the All Island short story competition for school children, organised and conducted by the Sri Lanka English Association of Poets, Writers & Playwrights in 1991. In 1982 the Tamil Debating team of St. John's were runners-up in the All-Island Competition. As has already been related, St. John's College won the All Island Science Quiz Competition in 1980. This competition was not held in 1981, but was resumed in 1982 - 83. St. John's became District Champions in Jaffna and will be participating in the finals in Colombo later this year (1983). In the All Island Mahaweli Quiz Contest in 1982 - 83, St. John's easily came first in the Northern Province, scoring 80 points, while their nearest rivals got only 45! The finals of this contest will be held in Colombo later in the year, and if St. John's wins it, they will get a prize of Rs. 50,000/-. The students who represented the college in this contest (in the N.P) were D. Jesuratnam, S. Vithiananthan, S. Niranjan, S. Dharmalingam and B.Sivayogam. The real credit goes to the Staff adviser Mr N.Mailvaganam. It should also be mentioned that at the individual elocution at the same contest, D. Jesuratnam of St. John's won the first prize of Rs. 1000/-

In 1981 the newly formed Sea Scouts produced a 'Green Chord', the highest award for the Juniors. A new club- The Leo club - was formed at the College, in 1981, sponsored by the Lions Club of Jaffna. The College was well represented at the 3rd National Scout Jamboree held at Anuradhapura in Feb-Mar. 1983

In the sports field, the College cricket team has not been beaten by a Jaffna School in 1980, 81, 82 or 83, even though they held on to this record only by the skin of their teeth in 1982. The one match they lost in 1980 was to Royal College by 25 runs in a limited over match, where N. Vasanthan of St. John's distinguished himself by scoring 99 runs. He bad earlier made 67 vs. St. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia. One of the Johnian victories in 1980 was against St. Patricks when with 4 balls left for play and 14 runs to win, Prabaharan hit, 4, 6 & 4 to earn a great victory, with just one ball left before draw of stumps. Another note worthy performance in that. match was a brilliant century by Karunakumar. In 1981, S. Seevanayagam made 102 not out in the Big match, only the second century in this series by a Johnian in the last 33 years. N. Prabaharan scored a swashbuckling innings of 117 vs Skandavarodya in 1982. The 1982 Big match was another one of those unforgettable encounters which will be talked of for generations to come. The St. John's team, a young and inexperienced side, was thoroughly outplayed and outmanoeuvred throughout, but in the end their last pair hung on grimly for one whole hour, while the new ball was used for 22 overs. to earn a pulsating draw. During the course of the match, Jaffna Central broke the record for the highest total and highest individual score in the series, which had earlier belonged to St. John's, but it is a strange quirk of fate and one of the fascinations of the game, that at the end of the match, the Johnian supporters were the jubilant ones, while the Centralites were crestfallen. At the final reckoning, "Victory" belonged to the two Vs of St. John's - Vignabalan and Vijayaraghavan - whose last wicket partnership pulled the chestnuts out of the fire to achieve a 'Dunkirk' miracle. The huge crowd of around 12 - 15 thousand will never forget it, especially those last few agonising moments. St. John's could have lost the match with the last ball, but Vijayaragavan took it on the chest, bringing memories of Ken Mackay who took the last ball from Wesley Hall on his body, thwarting the West Indies of victory at Adelaide in 1961. The last view of play was the last pair hugging each other as the pent-up emotions of the Johnian supporters broke loose and the field was a sea of heads, carrying their heroes shoulder high !

The 1983 Big Match was another heart palpitating one. It was distinguished by two of the greatest innings in the series, by R. Mahinda & S. Nishyanthan of St. John's. St. John's being sent to bat first by Central were reeling at 42 for 5 and then 69 for 7 when T. Ragulan went to join his skipper R. Mahinda who had gone in at 19 for 3 wickets. Mahinda went on to give an object lesson in building up an innings, getting right behind the ball and playing each ball on its merits. When he got out after playing a truly captain's innings of 73, with the total at 138, Ragulan took over the mantle of senior partner and raised the Johnian total to the realms of respectability, the final score being 171. However this appeared inadequate when Central rattled up 1 54 for 2 by close on the first day, scoring at the rate of a run a minute. Next day they went on in the same vein until the 3rd wicket fell at 173, when for no explicable reasons they got bogged down and ultimately declared at 199 for 8 wickets. But the Central bowlers again wrested the advantage by taking 3 wickets by lunch time, with the Johnian score only 40. This became worse soon after lunch when 4 more wickets fell for the addition of only 23 runs with Nishyanthan retired hurt with a sore finger Once again Ragulan filled the breach with St. John's only 35 ahead. With a couple of tail enders to polish off and plenty of time remaining, Central must have expected to celebrate a victory by tea time. However, once again Johnian grit, tenacity and pluck under adverse circumstances, came to the fore. Ragulan presented a dead bat to everything bowled at him and when Nisyanthan joined him after the eighth wicket had fallen at 83, Ragulan steadied and nursed him at the initial stages. At this juncture only Ragulan in that vast crowd could have conceived that a draw was even remotely possible. This pair hung on grimly until tea was taken at 103 for 8. After tea Nishyanthan displayed a pleasing array of strokes and just when the Johnians were beginning to breathe a little easier, Ragulan was given out L.B.W. at 132. The last man Jeyendran was a supremely outstanding example of a No. 11 rabbit who had lived up to his reputation by being bowled first ball in the first innings. However, he chose this of all occasions to take root at the crease and while Nishyanthan was laying about the bowling at the other end, kept him company for 45 valuable minutes scoring only one run while 37 precious runs were added for the last wicket. When Nishyanthan was finally out for a glorious 72 runs, which included 9 star-studded boundaries, St. John's were 141 runs ahead, having recovered from 63 for 7 to 169 all Out, and Central did not have time to get them in the 14 mandatory overs remaining. To have twice recovered from the doldrums appeared a miracle and while Mahinda and Nishyanthan won individual awards for their superb displays under tremendous pressure, it should not be forgotten that it was Ragulan who made them possible. In both innings he stood like Horatius guarding the bridge. He and Nishyanthan. both freshers have a bright future in the game.

The 1983 Big match was the 85th in the encounter between Central & St. John's, which started in 1904. (There had been two matches per year during the early years). This is the oldest cricket encounter in the North and. for the last few years had been played on the Jaffna Esplanade (Jaffna Central grounds) to accommodate the vast crowds that throng to witness the match. In 1975, a new series, between the Old Centralites & Old Johnians was started, the match being played on the day after the Big Match, lasting 50 overs per side. So far, the exchanges have been even, arid the matches have proved quite popular.

It has already been mentioned that cricketing standards have been going down in Jaffna since the beginning of the last decade, mainly owing to students having to concentrate more on their studies. St. John's has not produced an outstanding team during this period, though several brilliant individuals have passed through. But the signs of the times are that a revival is at hand. In 1980 the College under 17 and under 15 teams were zonal runners-up. In 1981 both sides became zonal champions and in 1982 the under 17 team wer. Runners up in one group while the under 15 team easily came out on top. This is the team which has to be watched. Its captain T. Ragulan is an up and coming champion batsman who scored a massive 176 in the final against Jaffna Central College. There are other good youngsters who will one day play their part in the near future.

The football (XI) in 1980 unfortunately could not produce a single win in 9 matches. In 1981 they fared better. There was further improvement in 1982 and it is hoped that the soccer slump is over.

The Johnian athletes have continued to rule the roost. At the 1980 Quadrangular meet, they fared best and repeated the success in 1981 when their seniors and Juniors won most number of places. That year for the first time the pentathlon was held and St. John's produced the winner in S. Vijayaragavan.

In Hockey, the 1980 seven-a-side were runners-up in a tournament and 5 of the College side played for Jaffna Schools. In 1981 the College side were joint champions. The Basket ball team won the Inter-school tournament organised by the Y. M. C. A in 1982.

The Badminton under 14 and under 16 teams won the schools tournament in the north in 1980, while the under 18 team were runners-up. The team acquitted themselves creditably at the All-Island tournament and St. John's produced a national champion in Lal Samuel who won the under 12 title. He went on to win the under 14 National title in 1982.

At the College itself, 1980 saw the appointment of Mr. T. Gunaseelan as Co-Vice Principal in succession to Mr. V.R. Amarasingam. An Old Boy of the College, and son of the veteran retired teacher Mr. M. S. Thambithurai, he had served as Boarding House master and as Secretary of Games before his important appointment.

A vocational training institute for automobile engineering was opened as the College in1980. This consisted of a 2 year course. Extensions to the J. T. Arulanantham Block of class rooms were carried out in 1981. Earlier this block was a 2 storeyed building consisting of 6 class-rooms. Now it has 16 class-rooms and aesthetically it is the most satisfying of all class rooms at the College. In 1982, work started on another 2-storeyed building which has 4 classrooms on the ground floor and another 4 upstairs. This building was opened on 31 January 1993 and named the A. W, Rajasegaram Block in honour of the former Principal.

The 0. B. A. (Colombo) organised a 'Night of Fantasy and Magic' in 1981, to raise funds. An Old Boy, Mr. S. Sivanandarajah who had won the title 'Magician of the year' starred in the show. The 0. B. A. (Jaffna) too obtained his services and staged the same show in Jaffna in Oct 1982 and realised a profit of Rs. 36.000/-. It is hoped that all these funds will be channelled to construct a sports pavilion for the College. It is likely that this will be the next big venture of the Old Boys.

Old Boys who died in the period 1980 - 82 include Mr. T. Gunaratnam (Past-President), Mr. D. C, Rajaratnarn an outstanding sportsman of the twenties, Rev. J. M. Singanayagam who captained the cricket team for 4 years during the championship period from 1921 - 24; Mr. L. R. Vethanayagam a former football captain; Mr. K. Chornalingam, the doyen of Tamil Drama who died in 1982 at the age of 96 - only 2 years previously he was conferred the title 'Nadaga Viththakar' by the University of Jaffna at its first convocation; Mr. Peter Somasundaram and Mr. A. S. Abraham former members of the staff and Rev. J. T, N. Handy, eldest son of the former Acting Principal of St.John's. His children have endowed Rs 25,000/- for a scholarship named the "Rev. John & Rose Handy Memorial Scholarship" in memory of their parents and tenable for one year for two deserving students who have entered the University from St. John's, one in Arts & the other in Science. This is the first time an endowment has been made to help Johnians who enter the University. Towards the end of 1982, two 0. B. A., Jaffna committee members, Mr. W. T. Rajkumar & Mr. B. Solomon died.

Two important policies with regard to Education are worthy of notice. The first is the proposed White Paper on Education which is still in the planning stage and appears like the proverbial curate's egg - good and bad in patches, and the other, the more welcome change as far as St. John's is concerned, the policy of Govt. paying the salaries of teachers attached to private non-fee levying schools.

A reference to the disturbances of June 1981, culminating in the burning of the Jaffna Public Library and some shops should be made here. One of the most disastrous and heart rending consequences of this was when about 97,000 books, some of them irreplaceable, and housed at the Jaffna Public Library were burnt to ashes in situ, during curfew hours and within sight of the Jaffna Police Station. Whatever monetary compensation that may be offered to the North, it will take eons of time for these dastardly acts to be erased from the minds and memories of the old and the young. It appears that we are heading for a dark age, where the moral values which all good men cherished are counted for nothing. Everywhere we see the signs of hatred and intolerance. The accent is on materialism and mammon is holding sway. But Truth and Justice are fundamental to an enduring social order. It is here that schools like St. John's will have to strive and hammer out the truth that light will always shine in the dark and dispel the gloom. They will have to lead the younger Generation to the eternal message given in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, where the point and counter point ultimately, spell out the triumph of Good over Evil.

St John's has had a glorious past. Its Present is the envy of many. One of the laudable qualities of its alumni is the extraordinary camaraderie that exists between the past and the present generations. When Rev. Henry Peto's son, Dr. David Peto visited St. John's in January 1982, the large gathering of Old Boys who assembled to meet him was an indication of the continuity of the Past into the Present. There is little doubt that it will flow into the Future. Most Old Boys talk of their school days belonging to the Thompson era, Peto period or the Arulanantham age. The College has been fortunate to have had three great principals of their calibre to guide its destiny for nearly 60 years continuously. But the best is yet to be, and the present generation of students may well say that their days during the 'Anandarajan Era' constituted the golden age in the history of the College.

In concluding the history of St. John's College, I can do no better than to quote another great Principal, Mr. Pooranampillai, who on the occasion of the 150tb anniversary of the College, said, "Looking back on the past, we are reminded that we are heirs to a great tradition of service and sacrifice. If the School produced good men and true, it is because the missionaries who ran the School were also men of vision. They believed that men would be better for knowing Jesus Christ, and they preached him by word and by their lives. Let us pray God that in His grace He will enable us however unworthy we are, to keep the vision splendid from fading, and to pass it on to the young ones in our charge.

Looking round at the present, and looking forward into the future, one is struck by the great and rapid changes that are taking place, and will continue increasingly to take place - changes caused by resurgent nationalism, cultural revivals, clash of cultures, and by technological discoveries and inventions. Education to be relevant, must adapt itself to these changes ; thus the knowledge and skills useful in a static agricultural society will be inadequate for a technological one. But if the contemplation of the contemporary scene is also informed by insights of the past and by experience, one would be led to the conclusion that whatever changes may take place, there are some values that are ultimate and permanent - truth, goodness and beauty and that there are certain social virtues justice, kindliness, helpfulness, courtesy, charity - that are invaluable, and that no society that claims to be decent can be without them. Essentially, education is leading young people to appreciate and appropriate these values and virtues. In this sense, essential education does not change. St. John's has nurtured these values and virtues and will continue to do so, true to its motto, - 'LUX IN TENEBRIS LUCET' - the Light shineth in Darkness."

God has guided the destinies of St. John's College in a wonderful way. He has been her help in ages past, and her hope for years to come. So long His power hath blest her, sure it still will lead her on.