by Namini Wijedasa
Pix by Eranga Jayawardene
The morning interval had just ended and students of Gampaha Thakshila Maha Vidyalaya (TMV) were in their classes. Teachers scribbled at the blackboards while boys and girls of this small, mixed school tried to pay attention. It was Monday, the first day of the school week.

In the principal’s office, the phone rang. Deputy Principal A.A.H. Amarasinghe picked up the receiver to hear a female voice introducing herself as a parent.

The woman told him that students from the nearby Bandaranaike Maha Vidyalaya (BMV) — a prestigious national school with sturdy scholastic and extra-curricular achievements as well as an attitude to match — had been preparing for an assault on TMV, tearing off branches of trees and collecting heavy poles and rocks.

But she added that there was no cause for concern because the BMV principal had been alerted and action had been taken to pack off the students to their classes. Don’t be scared, she said. Everything had returned to normal.

The attack came barely fifteen minutes later. There are conflicting reports of how many boys participated. TMV Principal Dharma Dassanayake says there were around 250 of them. BMV hotly denies that report. Anyhow, it was a large gang.

Wielding sticks, poles and rocks, the boys surged through the TMV gates, taking the solitary security guard — and everyone else — by surprise. The more descriptive and comprehensive accounts of what followed came, not unnaturally, from the TMV side.

According to Mrs. Dassanayake (who had missed the initial stages of the incident but had collected information from her teachers and students), "every boy had a stick in his hand."

"They shoved the security guard aside, rushed inside and assaulted the odd student or two who was out of class at the time," she recounted. "Then, they set upon the windows of our classrooms, hurling rocks and stones and smashing them with poles."

At least fifty windows were shattered, claimed Mrs. Dassanayake. In one class, a flying shard of glass lodged itself in the hand of a 13-year-old school boy, slashing two veins. He was rushed to hospital. Around twenty-five others kids sustained minor injuries.

TMV teachers reacted quickly. Foreseeing that letting out their students would lead to more chaos, each slammed shut the doors of their classrooms and ordered the children within to stay put. But tempers were running high. The boys, particularly, were seething. Some incensed TMV male students had reportedly shattered some windows themselves by throwing out chairs from classrooms. Several had vaulted from top floors in an impassioned bid to join the melee.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Dassanayake was making frantic phone calls. She telephoned the zonal director of education and other education authorities. She also called the police but they did not come.

"I don’t know why," she said. "Maybe they didn’t want to face a situation where they would have to assault students. That may have happened if they came on time."

She made a second phone call to the police. "Our school is being attacked," she exclaimed. "Aren’t you coming?"

They eventually arrived. But BMV teachers and prefects got there first. Taking quick stock of the situation, they yelled at their students and reportedly landed a few knocks in order to get them under control. Many of them sped out of the school, not necessarily through the front gate. Soon, the rest had been herded back to BMV where there were in for some sharp reprimanding. At TMV, enraged students surveyed the results of the 15-minute rampage. Debris lay everywhere.

Fully grasping the peril of dispute worsening, academic staff of both schools quickly switched to damage-control mode. Discussions were held between principals and teachers while police and other education authorities also intervened. BMV deputy principal and some teachers visited TMV, tendered an apology to the principal and academic staff and also offered to bear the cost of repairs. Another proposal aimed at rebuilding ties between the two schools is a shramadana by the BMV boys at the TMV premises.

Peace efforts notwithstanding, Dassanayake had a pressing question: Why hadn’t the principal and teachers of BMV stopped their students from marching to TMV with their makeshift weapons? How could it be possible that they hadn’t been aware of what was happening?

BMV Principal Ranjith Jayasundera wasn’t elaborate but he accepted responsibility for the shortcoming. "Yes, there was a shortcoming," Jayasundera said. "There was a fault on my side. I accept responsibility."

"I was not in school at the time because I had gone to People’s Bank to collect the staff salaries," he continued. "If I had known, I would not have let the students out of the school premises at any cost."

Jayasundera also admitted that his students had done wrong but stressed that most newspaper reports on the incident had been exaggerated and distorted. For instance, he said between 50 to 60 students may have participated in the attack, not two hundred-and-fifty. BMV prefects went further, saying only 25 had been involved.

Ganesh Kumara Dassanayake, BMV head cop, claimed that the assault on Thakshila had been spontaneous and not pre-planned. Prefects had only noticed something unusual when a large group of students hung around the school grounds after interval without returning to class. This had spurred them to investigate.

"Originally, around 250 were ready to converge on Thakshila," said Chanaka Karunaratne, deputy head prefect. "We managed to send back a considerable number to their classes. Only the few who defied our instructions and jumped out of school participated in the incident."

The prefects — two others, Ruwan Sirimal and Wasala Dissanayake, spoke to us — were livid at the press coverage. They said it was hugely damaging to the school’s reputation. They also felt the reporting was partial.

"When big schools fight, it is not written about like this," Chanaka said. "Some newspapers had exaggerated to the extent that they said Gampaha had turned into a battlefield. But when big, big schools in Colombo get naked women to their old boy’s parties, it is swept under the carpet."

"We did something wrong," said Ruwan. "We don’t make any attempt to deny it. But we will only take the blame for the actual act and not the exaggerated accounts in the newspapers."

A series of seminars were held for BMV students by academic staff. Emphasis was laid on living in harmony and on brotherhood and sisterhood of schools. Attempts are being made to restore relations because disputes between schools can spiral to dangerous heights. But there are still undercurrents.

"Our students are frightened at the slightest noise," said Saumiya Solangaarachchi, TMV head prefect. "They have been psychologically affected by the incident. And some of the boys are very angry and want to fight back. We have been advising them."

"It would be a great help if students from Bandaranaike came here and apologised to our students," Saumiya said. "It would help calm matters. Otherwise, it is very difficult to end things here. Bandaranaike Vidyalaya must accept they did something wrong. They attacked our school."