History

The state timber co-operation was the first owners of the land which belongs to Wariyapola Sri Sumangala College today.It was named as ‘Wariyapola Sri Sumangala’ with retrospect of the Wariyapola Sri Sumangala thero who fought for our freedom during the era of imperialism.Now Wariyapola Sri Sumangala College is at its height of glory and grandeur in the ancient city of Kandy.

Wariyapola Sri Sumangala College has a long history about 131 years.It was originated under the name of “‘St. Paul’s”‘ as a junior school of Trinty college Kandy. After laying the first brick on 8 February in 1879.The new school was started in the name of St. Paul’s English school.It was considered as a boys school, after starting on 16 September 1879.

By 1934, there were 175 students in this school, giving priority to disciplined behaviour promoting intelligence and virtuous life style. As a result of increasing number of students and the lack of space, a part of the school was shifted to the Purse building at Victoria road in the Lake Round. The school was controlled under the British Council, Rev. Green as the manager and Mr. D.I. Mathew as the principal.In 1934, Mr. J.A.De Mel who was a staff member was appointed as the principal. He succeeded in inspiring the school by achieving the building facilities required by the school such as a laboratory, four class rooms and an officeroom on 30 March 1939.

The departure of the honourable manager, Rev. G.I. Green who gave a great inspiration to school,was a great loss for the school. But Rev. Lakdas De Mel,filled the gap by his hard work. The school lifted on to a pedestal and was improved in sphere by the devotion and the determination of the principal. The students succeeded in bringing diginity and fame to the school by participating and winning in extra curricular activities like, Scouting, Cricket, Hockey, Soccer and Cadetting. The school was promoted to the senior secondary level an 1941 and to B grade in 1943. Under the flourishing changes of free education, the number of students in the school increased gradually. As a result, many problems were created regarding space As a solution, a building with an auditorium was offered to the school to fulfil this necessity.^[1]

By 1971, the primary section consisted of both Tamil and English media. Due to the lack of classroom facilities, two school sessions were held in the morning and in the afternoon. Thus in 1932, the admissions of the grade one students was stopped. In 1975, the principal, Mr. K.B. Meegahakumbura solved the problems and started enrolling Sinhala students to grade one. By the 1975, the collapsed primary section rose up with a new enthusiasm. By 1979, the primary section became a popular school in Kandy.

In 1978 a new Art stream was introduced to the school as a novel step. With the starting of A/L classes, many students were selected to enter the university and St. Paul’s college became one of the leading school in the country. The school achieved the heights of its success with Mr. R.M.D. Rathnayake, who was appointed as the principal on 1 May 1987. It’s called the golden era.