Secretary's Report - 2010/2011

Committee: 2010/2011

President Mr. N. Y. Casie Chetty
Honorary Secretary Mr. Chrishmal Warnasuriya
Honorary Treasurer Mr. Maninda Wickramasinghe
Vice Presidents Mr. Johanne De Zilwa
Mr. Dilan Illapperuma
Mr. Dushan Roberts
Asst. Secretary Mr. Imran Hassan
Executive Committee Mr. Shabir Hussain
Mr. K. Thirugnanam
Mr. Nilantha Fernando
Mr. Ravi Ramanathan
Mr. Kavinda Dias Abeysinghe
Mr. W. S. Rockwood
Mr. Prashantha Peiris
Mr. Shabir Hussain
Mr. R. C. Gulasekharan
Mr. Gehan Dias
Mr. Shiran Ambrose
Mr. Haroon Cader
Mr. Ranjith Seneviratne
Mr. Naresh Ediriwira
Mr. Kishan De Silva
Mr. Niroshan Wijesundara
Mr. D. Gunawardane
Mr. Kesara Serasinghe
Honorary Auditor Mr. P.E.A. Jayawickrama
Staff Coordinator Mr. B. A. J. Perera

During the period under review Mr. Dilshard Anzary left us to go overseas on a Foreign Assignment. We also had the sad demise of Mr. Bodhi Ranasinghe.

Membership

The total membership of the OBU now stands at 2013 members
Membership Cards are sent direct to new members under registered cover by the School Office within 03 days of the applications being processed

Members can also access the membership details from our web site – www.prepobu.lk

Meetings

During the period under review the OBU met on 4 occasions to discuss and plan OBU activities. We wish to thank the President for his kind hospitality at the meetings.

Events & Projects

  1. Junior School Play Area

    This year too the OBU had to revamp the equipment and carry out extensive maintenance due to the close proximity of the Sea. The cost of same was approx. Rs. 65,000/- The OBU thanks our Vice President Mr. Dushan Roberts for overseeing this project

  2. J. S. L. Fernando Memorial Scholarship Fund

    The following students were awarded Scholarships:

    2011

    (I) Master K. Deshan - Grade 7
    (II) Master M. Ganashiam - Grade 8

    The cost of each scholarship is around Rs. 45,000/-. The OBU is also continuing to award 02 prizes in memory of our late Head Master at the Annual Prize Giving to the best all round students of Grade 10 and 11.

    This Fund launched with the support of the OBU has supported 18 students to date.

    Mr. Lilantha Fernando son of late Head Master Mr. J.S.L.Fernando is now coordinating on behalf of the OBU the collection of funds to disperse Scholarships. The 2011 Scholarships were funded by Mr. Anil Cooke and Mr. Haroun Cader, and the Batch of ’86 Namely Mr. Hussain Adamaly, Mr. Sriyantha Waas, Mr. Fayyaz Mukthar, Mr. Asoka Korale, Mr. Mirza Dean.

    On behalf of the Old Boys’ Union we also wish to thank Mr. Lilantha Fernando for his services.

  3. Other Scholarships

    Two other Scholarships are awarded by the Old Boys’ Union on a annual basis. Namely, The Golden Jubilee Scholarship & the WT Keble Memorial Diamond Jubilee Scholarship.

Library Week

This project which was mooted by the Old Boys’ Union has been held since 2001. This project is aimed at promoting the reading habit among students. The response received from participants has been most encouraging. Prizes are awarded to students who have excelled in activities relating to vocabulary, General Knowledge, Bulletin Writing and Art.

In 2011, the Guest Speaker was Dr.H.D. Gunaratne of the Universtity of Colombo. Students were presented their prizes at special assembly held in the School Hall on 1st June 2011. The Book Exhibition was also held at open day on 03rd June 2011.

The Old Boys’ Union wishes to thank the two Librarians namely Mrs. S. Sureshchandra and Mrs. J.S.M. Jacob for their kind assistance towards this project.

IT Studies

The Computer Lab for IT studies which was started by the OBU in May 2004 continues to be operative under the management of GATEWAY Computer Services (Pvt) Ltd. Mr. Ravi Ramanathan is the OBU coordinator for this ongoing project. To date 3 batches of students have sat the G.C.E. O/Levels and results have been good.

Web Site: [www.prepobu.lk]

The web site has been operational fully since 2008 and all updates have been made. We thank the Administrator Mr. Dileep Kariyawasam for the good work done

Sports Development

The Sports Development Committee consists of Mr. Gehan Dias – Chairman & Mr. Ranjith Seneviratne Co-Chairman. The aim of the committee is to support main sporting disciplines at the School.

A meeting was held with the Teachers-in-charge of sports and Budgets obtained of total expenses envisaged. A separate Bank account has been opened at the Commercial Bank of Ceylon – Kollupitiya Branch to receive Funds for the Sports Development Fund. The account is titled S.Thomas’ Prep School OBU – Sports Development Fund A/C No: 1108212401 at Commercial Bank – Kollupitiya. This Account was opened in June 2010 and since its opening Rs. 503,900/- has been deposited by Old boys.

The main expenses disbursed to date is as follows:

Hire of Cricket Grounds Rs. 28,151.68
Rugger (Coaching fees) Rs. 153,750.00
T-shirts Rs. 48,640.00
Rugger (Mini Carnival) Rs. 48,104.97

The OBU thanks the Chairman Mr. Gehan Dias and Co-Chairman Mr. Ranjith Seneviratne together with the Golden Jubilee group and other well wishes including parents for their assistance towards the Fund.

We thank the S.Thomas’ Prep Golden Jubilee Batch of 88’ and the Prep O/L Batch 95’ together with Mr. Mahendra Palliyaguru an old boy who have sponsored and supported Rugby Football at Prep School in 2009, 2010 & 2011

The OBU Trust Fund also released funds from the Trust for the construction of Indoor Cricket Nets in the school premises.

School Advisory Committee

The OBU is represented in this Committee by the Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer.

S. Thomas’ Preparatory School Obu Trust Fund

The OBU is pleased to announce that the Trust Fund established in 2006 has the following as trustees.

The aim of the Trust is to:

  1. To provide better facilities for the advancement of knowledge and for educational, sports, cultural and religious activities in the School.
  2. To provide financial and other assistance to deserving students of the College by way of Scholarships and Bursaries.
  3. To construct additional buildings, repair, maintain, renovate and effect structural alterations to the existing buildings, the sports field and other property of the School.
  4. To equip and maintain the Science Laboratories and the School Library and other infrastructure work.
  5. Participate in the development activities of the school by way of funding.
  6. Afford facilities to raise teaching standards.

In 2008 the Trustees decided to introduce each term an Attendance Incentive by way of a financial payment to the Staff of all categories. This has resulted in an improved attendance of the tutorial staff, which has had a direct impact on furthering the academic standards in the School. This scheme has been welcomed by the Staff.

To date six classes in the primary & middle school have had furniture upgrades from monies allocated from the Trust Fund. The furniture was provided and the project successfully completed. The Trust Fund also provided support towards sports infrastructure expenses in consultation with the Head Master. A sum of Rs. 100,000/- was disbursed in 2010 and 2011.

Further, the Art Room was also provided with new Furniture and given an up lift.

OBU Senior Teacher Award

The OBU inaugurated the Senior Teacher Award in November 2006, where an annual award of Rs. 25,000/- and a Scroll is presented to the longest serving teacher at Prep School. In 2010 the Award was presented to Mrs Y Sathasivam who had completed 28 Years of service.

The OBU thanks Mr. Mario Fonseka an Old boy for his generosity for this project.

Career Guidance

This Project is carried out with the Interact Club of the school under the supervision of Vice President of Mr. Chrismal Warnasuriya Head of IBM Mr. Kishen Fernando an old boy spoke to the Members in April on IT and Marketing.

The Future

The OBU is deeply committed to assist the school administration and the Board of Governors in school development if and when such assistance is requested or needed in the future.

We urgently need to improve the surroundings of the Library as its condition is in bad shape due to its closeness to the Sea. We are working with a group of Old Boys on this Project at the moment and should be able to commence work soon.

We wish to thank the former Lord Bishop of Colombo Duleep de Chickera (Rtd) and the School Manager Mr. Rajan Asirwathan for their guidance and assistance during the period under review. We welcome the election of the new Bishop of Colombo Rt Rev. Diloraj Canagasabai and look forward in working with him in the future..

Staff

The OBU wishes to thank our staff coordinator Mr. Jayadeva Perera for his dedicated service to the OBU during the period under review. We also wish to thank Ms. Kusum Silva, Head Master’s Secretary for her continued support in all our activities. We must also thank Ms. Merlyn Perera who has kept a record of all the new subscriptions received during the period under review.

Committee

My sincere thanks goes out to the committee for their commitment and time to their old school during the period under review.

After serving you as Secretary of the OBU for13 years, I will leave office today and give way to Mr. Chrishmal Warnasuriya who has been nominated as the Incoming Secretary of the OBU. I had a great opportunity in the role of OBU Secretary serving my old school and working with numerous old boys over the years...

I request you to give your full support to Chrishmal and I am confident in true Thomian Spirit he will serve to the best of his ability in this position.

Special Thanks

A special word of Thanks goes out to Mr. Sujan Wijewardena an Old Boy, Deputy Chairman Wijeya Newspapers for all his assistance to the OBU during the period under review in respect of printing & promotion of our activities in the Daily Mirror & Sunday Times. Sujan has always supported our Projects and Programs and we thank him most sincerely.

I wish to thank the Teaching Staff of Prep School specially Mrs. Kusum Silva, Mr. B.A.J. Perera, Mrs. Merlene Perera & Mr. G. Mylvaganam for all the support and assistance they gave me as the Secretary of OBU.

My thanks also goes out to the Head Master and the President of the OBU Mr. N.Y.Casie Chetty for his understanding and co-operation on most of our Projects and suggestions towards school development. It has been an experience working with you and I sincerely hope that you will have the same support I gave you from my successor.

Conclusion

During the period under review we have been successful in organizing a few projects for the school. I thank the OBU President and the Headmaster for helping in the implementation of projects we undertook during the period under review. As we embark on a new year my wish is that we as loyal and dedicated old boys of Prep School work in harmony and goodwill for the development of the school.

Let us keep the Dark Blue, Light Blue and Gleaming White Flag Flying High Forever.

Johanne De Zilwa
SECRETARY – OBU
24th June 2011