Message from His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka


In the immediate aftermath following the tragedy in December 2004, Gateway pledged to re-build a tsunami devastated school in order to give its students back their school… and their lives. Gateway's immediate objective was soon realized when the school was able to start functioning along with other schools in the island. They were then the first to commence construction of a school. Today, within a year after tsunami, I am very pleased to accept a fully fledged newly built C.W.W.Kannangara College on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka. I am very grateful to the management of Gateway for their kind gesture. It is pleasing to see a privately owned International School taking the lead in the re-building of the tsunami devastated schools.

I appreciate the great contribution the Management, Teachers, Parents and Well-wishers of Gateway College have made to alleviate the sufferings of the tsunami affected peoples of our country. Gateway’s contribution has been specially so as theirs was for education and children.

This Fifty Million project will be a living example to all those interested in the welfare and the well being of the unfortunate tsunami affected children of this country. I am sure that the others will be inspired by this magnanimous gesture of Gateway College who were able to enlist the support of well-wishers, both local and foreign. In this context, I like to make special mention of Daily Mail of UK whose readers were the main contributors.


Mahinda Rajapaksa
President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

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Message from Honourable Minister of Education

Barely within a year of the worst calamity the country has ever experienced, Gateway has kept its promise by building a modern new school for the children of C.W.W. Kannangara College in Mahamodara, Galle. For these less fortunate children, a school with facilities such as Computer, Science and Home Science Laboratories, Library, Arts and Crafts room, Auditorium etc. must surely be a dream come true. I thank Gateway for giving these children hope to look forward to a bright future.   

It is also very satisfying to see a school named after the father of free education, Hon. C. W. W. Kannanagara, being taken care of by a private educational organistation. Gateway is headed by Mr. R.I.T.Alles, the founder Principal of D.S.Senanayke College and the former State Secretary of Education who is a product of Galle. I consider this gesture as another landmark in his distinguished service to this country. I urge him to be continuously be associated with the C.W.W. Kannangara College and make it another model school.

I am made to understand that the success of this project has been the excellent networking of people and organisations from all walks of life both locally and internationally. My sincere thanks go to the readers of the Daily Mail, UK who have contributed immensely to make this venture a successful one. On behalf of the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka, I thank all donors for their contributions to the upliftment of education in our country.

Susil Premajayantha
Minister of Education

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Message from the Principal C.W.W. Kannangara College

Over a period of 50 years, CWW Kannangara College had, amidst variuos difficulties, provided education to the children of the very land trod by the father of free education Mr. CWW Kannangara. To have been able to rise from the devastation inflicted upon it last year by the tsunami and niw to illuminate the city of galle, once again, I consider a remarkable fortune

 

The immediate human steps taken by Mr. R.I.T. Alles, the Chairman of Gateway Group along with the members of his family, readers of Daily Mail and associated Institutions as well as the sympathetic local and overseas contributors that had made it possible to provide an imposing school complete with all facilities within one year, is a noble meritorious act.

I am deeply grateful to all institutions and persons who have been instrumental in providing the physical resources that were lost by the college.

Modern education practice demands the provision of high quality human and physical environment to the students for the optimum development of their knowledge, skills and attitude. Therefore, The newly renovated college, replete with all modern facilities capable of providing a high class education to the current school population of 306 students and about 900 students in the foreseen future will be a beacon light to this area. It will help to reduce congestion in national schools of the area and will be a blessing to the entire south of Sri Lanka. It will be an example as well as a valuable national heritage.

 

Therefore, on this occasion, when we are witnessing the dawn of a new awakening, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to all those who had encouraged us through every form of co-operation and assistance.

K.P.D. Premalal
Principal

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Message from the Chairman - Gateway College

Today a dream come true and we have been able to give the innocent children of CWW Kannangara College a better school for the one they had lost. There is story behind it.

 

The tsunami had its toll on Gateway family. We lost our Front office executive Miss Nishamanee Samarasinghe and three of our dear computer kids, Hansika, Reshmika, and Rizvi. Another kid Kanchani lost both her parents.

 

My son Dr. Harsha Alles and I left for Matara to join Nishamnee’s grieving mother. These tragedies and devastation we witnessed along the cost line convinced us that something substantial should be done on behalf of our dear departed.

 

Dr. Harsha Alles then suggested that we rebuild a destructed school in the memory of our loved ones. And so perused the tragedy that had struck the school named after the father of free education of our country. We spoke to the principle, a few teachers and students who were left in the vicinity. They were in a state of shock. The trauma that they had undergone was seen in their faces. They felt that there was no hope for them. Despair seemed to reign. We took over the challenging and daunting task of rehabilitating more the mind than the provision of facilities and rebuilding. Today we see a living memento of a true memorial that will tell future generations that story of love and sacrifice.

 

I am indebted to the parents, students, prefects, and well wishers, both local and foreign, of the gateway Gateway Group of Companies and CWW Kannagara College who did not spare their energies and time to achieve this near miracle. Mrs. Rohani Alles, Mr. Tiran Alles and Dr. Harsha Alles of the Directorate, the Heads and teachers of Gateway College and CWW Kannagara College, the Executives of Daily Mail, our Architects Sheran Henry Associates and their builders, our Advertisers A&D, the Hon. Minister and officers of the Minister of Education and the Hon. Chief Minister and the officers of the Provincial Education Administration will now breathe a sigh of relief that everyone of them have done their part in the completion of this noble and humane project.

 

I have no words to thank His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President for gracing this occasion in spite of the fact that it is barely a month after he assumed office. The Directorate of Gateway College will always remember his magnanimity

 

R. I. T. Alles
Chairman - Gateway College

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Message from the Managing Editor - Daily Mail

This is a great day for hundreds of children and parents in Galle and a great day for many of the Daily Mail’s six million readers, who contributed so generously to our Flood Aid appeal after the tsunami disaster a year ago. For the new CWW Kannangara school has been built from those donations which ranged from £100,000 from an industrial tycoon to 50 pence from a pensioner. The magnificent new complex is the result of a unique partnership between the Mail and Gateway schools, which first identified the project and has so expertly and painstakingly overseen it.  It is a project too that has been aided by contributions of many others both in Sri Lanka and abroad. When the Mail's Chief Reporter David Williams and photographer David Crump met with Gateway's managing director Dr Harsha Alles on the site where we are today all that was left of a once proud school was the crumbled wreckage of its buildings. The bricks and mortar had been destroyed but the spirit of the teachers, pupils and parents survived to shine through as they sought to salvage what they could. With the help and guidance of Gateway and other volunteers, two of the school buildings were made-good so that education could continue while the huge task of rebuilding a new school capable of withstanding the most violent storms was undertaken. The fact that it is the first school in the country to be fully rebuilt - at a cost of nearly £300,000 - is a tribute to those who have worked-on and "driven" the project with such expertise and determination. It will provide free education to more than 500 local children, an increase of some 200 on the old school, so many of them victims of the tsunami.

 

There can be no greater honour than the fact that the opening ceremony today is being carried out by His Excellency, President Mahinda Rajapakse. The focus of our Flood Aid appeal, which raised a record £16million, was helping the children of the tsunami and many of our readers asked specifically that their donations went to benefit youngsters in Sri Lanka . The Mail is a great supporter of the benefits of family life and of education so it was natural to look for somewhere such as CWW Kannangara where those principles could be put to good and practical use. This school built on three storeys to the highest standards and protected by a special "tsunami wall" will be a lasting legacy to the generosity of readers of the Daily Mail, the expertise of Gateway and the dedication of the Principal Don Premalal and his staff. It will, we hope, be a lasting benefit too for generations of children living on the edge of the Indian Ocean and a permanent reminder of the of the"special relationship" between Britain and Sri Lanka .

 

Robin Esser
Executive Managing Editor

The Daily Mail.