THE COLLEGE

There are about 299 Boarders and 154 Day Boys in College. The total School Fees only, @ Rs.1,500/- per student, from 450 students, is about Rs.675,000/-. The total Boarding fees only @ Rs.2,000/- per student, from 300 students is about Rs.600,000/-. The total collection of fees is therefore about Rs.1,275,000/-. A large proportion of students do not pay their fees on time. The aggregate Wage Bill of all Employees is approximately Rs.875,750/- per month. The total salary of 39 members in the Tutorial Staff is about Rs.305,518/- plus E.P.F, E.T.F (and Pension). The total salary of 56 members in the Minor Staff is about Rs.254,950/- plus EPF and ETF. The total salary of 15 employees handling Administration, Accounts and Miscellaneous, exceeds Rs.100,000/- plus EPF and ETF (and Pension). The Food Bill of the Boarders is Rs.325,000/-.

The postage, printing, stationery, petrol, bakery, maintenance, laundry, library, sick-room, chapel, games, telephone, water, College stores, travelling, general expenses, electricity and security services etc, etc aggregate to approximately Rs.400,000/-. Thus, the total collection of fees, i.e Rs.1,275,000/-, even if made on time, is not sufficient to meet the monthly commitment, i.e Rs.1,600,000/-. College has 15 employees in the Administration and Accounts Section etc. to handle a student population of 450. Yet, Royal, Visakha, Isipathana, STPS Kollupitiya, Alethea, Stafford, CIS and STC Mt with student populations of 8000, 4288,400,1009,990,740,1270 & 2280 respectively have 15, 15, 15, 10, 10, 07, 16 & 15 employees respectively handling Administration and Accounts. Even in 1983 when there were 1,247 students at Gurutalawa, there were only 37 minor employees. Today there are 56 minor employees.

There are 18 employees attached to the kitchen; 4 each attached to the Farm, Conservancy and Keble; 03 each for Class Rooms, Driving and Bakery, out of the 56 in the minor Staff. At least 18 employees are on contract or temporary. There are 15 members on the Tutorial Staff of 38 on contract or temporary basis. However, there are only 05 on contract or on temporary basis in a minor staff of 56. The rest have been made permanent. The proportion of students to paid employees is 4 :1 (which is very high). Perhaps 20-25% of the employees may be redundant. Somebody appears to have blundered down the line by generously issuing permanent letters of Appointment. 07 members on the tutorial staff get less pay than those in the administration.

An English Assistant Teacher and a Kindergarten Teacher are paid even less than Conservancy Labourers. In Dr. Hayman’s last year, ie. 1962 when there were 300 boarders (ie. the identical number as at present) and the boarding and school fees was approximately Rs. 125/- per month, there were only 3 employees handling accounts and administration. No student was in arrears of fees. The staff was contented, the campus, buildings, gardens, could not have looked better. The staff were totally resident on the campus, fully involved in sports and extra curricular activities, for no additional allowances. Today more than 50% of the staff quarters are vacant, abandoned, and not maintained. The involvement of most of the staff with the college ceases as soon as classroom work is over. Boxing, Tennis, Gymnastics, Hiking, Cross Country Runs, Outward Bound School, Bird Watching, Physical Training, Horse Riding, Scouting are things of the past. The present generation of Thomians do not enjoy these outdoor activities. Swimming, Basket Ball, Badminton, Volley Ball, Hockey etc. are played superficially. The college magazine has disappeared.

The Library is not updated. All buildings, and facilities like electricity, water service, telecommunication, sanitary, drainage, gardens, accommodation, food, have deteriorated to such an extent that the system hangs on a thin thread. Roofs of the Dining Hall, Class Rooms, Dormitories are all leaking and hence any new furniture put in by well meaning old boys are bound to deteriorate rapidly. Despite the fact that college can boast of two highly qualified members on the teaching staff having over 20 years service at Guru, some vital areas of tutoring like English have been thoroughly neglected.

The Primary Section is said to have a capacity of 300 Boarders. Yet there are only 76. Even girls who apply will be taken to the Primary Section and allowed to continue up to Ordinary Level. They do extremely well in work and carry away many prizes, but do not participate in any extra curricular activities and are not afforded any facilities for Sports. Visiting mothers sleep with their sons in the Primary Section Dormitories. These children of 5 years or so are expected to consume the same food prepared in the main kitchen for all adults. Proper alternate lighting has not been provided for these young children during power cut hours. Teachers were providing same at their expense. The co-op stores were reported not to have any candles. Several dogs have made the Dining Hall their home. Parents bring rice parcels and have access to the Dining Hall to consume same. Parents are found within Dormitories visiting children.

Parents are accommodated in the sick-room to give moral support while students sit the Ordinary Level Exam. Couples who are not parents of the same child had made use of these opportunities. Despite employment of two drivers for the college vans they were driven regularly for normal college errands by Accounts staff. The Vans were used for personal errands of such staff and misused on the basis of errands to purchase vegetables. During holidays in the absence of the Head Master the vans were used to learn driving on the Tennis Court; the Campus was given out to Garment Factory girls for camps; the Head Master’s Bungalow was made available for partying to Police Officers and Garment Factory Officers. Farm animals have been sold and proceeds not credited. Farm and College property, eg. Deep Freezers, Bicycles, and Vehicles were retained by office staff in their homes. Beds and other items of furniture were removed out of the Campus by office staff. Beds taken to the grounds for the “First Aid Post” during Sports Meets find their way in to the adjoining villages. Building materials brought to the campus by way of donations or otherwise find their way out of the campus. Boarders who pay for food have almost all their meals from the Canteen on Standing Orders placed by Parents.

Students take short cuts across areas normally “out of bounds “. Cattle, dogs, and cats are permitted to graze and loiter in areas of unprotected wells. Discarded footwear , soiled garments, animal dung and other refuse, float in wells , supplying water. Senior students tie pieces of cloth to their taps in toilets and washing areas to filter worms coming through. Non availability of proper electricity and water to staff quarters despite deductions being made on that score from their salaries. Failure to attend to basic urgent and essential maintenance and repairs of Staff Quarters. Students leave the college campus during the lunch interval to purchase and consume food from boutiques at the 6th Mile Post. Senior school leavers are reported to pile up and make a bon fire of their mattresses on their last night in school.

Stones, Bricks, Broken glass and other objects are stuffed in to toilet commodes by school leavers that night as a mark of protest against a non caring College. The doors of Dormitories of younger students are forced open by Seniors staying on for their O’Level, and their cupboards, and suitcases are broken open and personal belongings like clothes removed. Windows are forced open and students break out of the Campus in the night and proceed to Welimada Church for Christmas service during O’Levels. Senior Students rag and assault Juniors the day before the latter sit for their O’Levels so that a riot breaks out and the Police are summoned to quell it. According to the last Head Master this was supposed to be a “Tradition”. We know nothing about it.

Lack of reading and writing facilities in the dormitories. Harassment of tutorial staff and malicious delay in payment of their salaries on the due date, by Accounts Staff. Failure to deposit cash collections as required. Levying tuition fees and other charges from students when not due. Large scale irregularities in financial controls of the Accounts Department, particularly where purchases are concerned. Entertaining Invoices from “Friendly” suppliers long after alleged date of supply. Paying the same Invoice several times over. Irregular purchases are made of groceries etc. from Welimada and payments are made haphazardly. Not making purchases from the most convenient places and going all the way to Bandarawela. Not being able to purchase items at wholesale prices although purchasing is on a regular basis. Confidential information/ documentation between the Head Master and the Manager of the school being intercepted and leaked out to interested parties, by office staff who are hostile to the Administration and moles operating in close proximity to the Head Master and who have access to the Head Master’s Room. A note in the Fees invoice sent to parents has a warning that boys whose fees are in arrears will be sent home without notice. Instances are reported of boys having been packed off by bus in this manner. Pension and Provident Fund deductions made from salaries of staff not being remitted as required in Law.

A computer from the computer room in the new Dining Hall and Administration block which had its soft opening immediately before the last AGM spirited away within weeks and found dumped in a dustbin minus its Hard Disk which contained confidential and sensitive data. The computers were therefore removed elsewhere for security reasons. Monies requisitioned to make purchases of items for sale at the last Thomian Fair have been frittered away without proper accounting. Some of the items for sale never reached Mt. Lavinia. 37 Credit Sales Memo Books of the Farm are not available and are unaccounted. Minor staff are reported to partake of their meals before students and some times seated at the Staff Dining table. Cooked food is taken out of Campus. This is reported even on the occasion of the Re-Union Dinner. Groceries in fair quantities are surreptitiously removed from the campus daily in small quantities. Employees have found numerous foot paths out of the campus instead of the main gate. The fences around the campus have all been removed.

Use of the college grounds have virtually been given up and its present use by college is virtually on an understanding with the villagers. The minor staff are found idling during working hours without attending to their work on a regular basis. Labourers have been promoted to supervise labourers. Currently any student seeking admission is taken in. An undesirable student taken in without verifying his school leaving documentation had on one occasion inculcated the “drug abuse” habit for the first time at Gurutalawa.

The previous Head Master was forced to abruptly adjourn staff meetings when the staff had become too hostile. Prefects who are supposed to enforce discipline have been stripped of their duties, en masse. Offensive posters attacking staff members have been displayed in the college hall. Vulgar and indecent comments concerning staff members have been found, and senior students have been sacked for these misdemeanours. It is strongly believed that these were instigated by other staff members. Without Resident Masters in charge of dormitories housed adjacent to the dormitories discipline is difficult to be enforced. The standard of English has hit very low depths.

The students come from a completely different social background. There are no Old Boys on the tutorial staff. The quality of the tutorial staff has fallen. Until recently, the minor staff and the administration staff were very indisciplined, took advantage of the weak administration, were virtually running the show, and treating College property as their own. The above ills and short comings are the cumulative result of years of poor management and administration and lack of long term planning. Dr. Hayman served the college for an unbroken period of 20 years. He had a vision. He was alive to the needs and plans for the future. From 1963 to date there have been almost 14 Head Masters. There has been no continuity of policy. Each has had his own agenda and priorities. There have been murders and suicides on the Campus.

NONE OF THESE GLARING SHORTCOMINGS ARE ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE PRESENT HEAD MASTER. HE IS MAKING A VALIANT EFFORT AND STEADY PROGRESS. HE HAS THE SUPPORT AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE OBA AND OLD BOYS, AND NOW EVEN A GOOD SECTION OF THE STAFF. DESPITE THE CO-OPERATION GIVEN BY ALL OF THEM THE RESULTS OF THE POOR MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF HIS PREDECESSORS VISIT HIM AND WILL OVER TAKE HIM GOING BY THE STATISTICS AND FACTS SET OUT ABOVE. ALL THE EFFORTS, THE GENEROSITY, SACRIFICES AND CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY WELL MEANING OLD BOYS, PARENTS, AND STAFF IN WAIVING ALLOWANCES OR CONSTRUCTING BUILDINGS OR PAINTING, RENOVATING, REFURBISHING DORMITORIES OR CLASS ROOMS OR GIFTING SPORTS OR OFFICE EQUIPMENT, CLASS ROOM FURNITURE, ETC. WILL NOT AND CANNOT AVERT THE SIMPLE ARITHMETIC OF FINANCIAL VIABILITY. NEW BUILDINGS OR PAINTING DORMS DO NOT A DEBIT BALANCE IN THE BANK WIPE OUT. THE SOLUTION WILL HAVE TO BE FOUND IN CHANGING MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION TECHNIQUES, THE CONCEPTS OF THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION AS A WHOLE AND OPENING THE DOORS AND WINDOWS TO FRESH IDEAS AND VIEWS IN LINE WITH TO DAY’S NEEDS, REALITIES AND MARKET FORCES. MODERN TRENDS AND CONCEPTS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS OPTIONS HAVING IN MIND THE UNIQUE FEATURES AVAILABLE ON THE CAMPUS. THESE ARE NOT MATTERS A WELL MEANING AND CAPABLE HEAD MASTER CAN ACCOMPLISH BY HIMSELF.

This cannot be resolved even by an efficient and dedicated Manager single handed assisting the Head Master. The Board of Governors is far removed from realities and unaware of the ground situation which is hidden from them. Those responsible, mistakenly though with good intention, perhaps wishing to cushion the higher ups, hide the truth. The Bishop, is too busy and preoccupied with a vast array of responsibilities to single handedly find solutions with the Head Master.