Those involved in the noble profession of teaching have been entrusted with the achievement of the deeper and more profound objective of imparting knowledge to children who have to be moulded into good citizens and it should not be viewed as merely another money-earning occupation. The ultimate satisfaction for a teacher would be to see his students occupying places of excellence in society, said Prof. G. L. Peiris, Minister of Export Development and International Trade at the opening of the Educational, Science and Trade Exhibition to mark the 110th anniversary of St. Aloysius’ College, Ratnapura recently.

While pointing out that the valuable teaching and education tradition prevalent in this country is a national asset, Prof. Peiris also highlighted the unique identity that St. Aloysius’ College had created over 110 years. It had produced a countless number of intellectuals, writers, lawyers, many military men and other professionals. This has placed the school among the foremost educational institutes in Sri Lanka.

Building a complete personality are part and parcel of a good education. And for this purpose a dedicated band of teachers who are willing to make sacrifices to achieve higher objectives are needed. Teaching is not a profession where one could make much money, but the job offered them an enormous sense of self- satisfaction, he noted.

The Minister said there are many factors that contributed towards the imparting of a complete education. One is the creating of an ability in the child to evaluate a social situation with a deep insight, determine one’s own contribution in such an environment and implement it in a practical manner. However much one’s knowledge of a particular subject could be, it wouldn’t amount to very much unless it’s accompanied by an acute social awareness. He said that it was also important to include certain values and concepts into our curriculum which would be helpful to analyze social phenomena in Sri Lankan society.

"Prominent among Sri Lanka’s natural assets is its human resource and schools like St. Aloysius’s should always strive to add value to that asset."

Even in the sphere of economic development, value addition had been accepted as the mode of enhancement of the economic pie. And for this particular purpose of economic value addition, Sri Lanka’s abundant human resource could be effectively utilized. Taking the examples of tea and rubber, Prof. Peiris pointed out the revolutionary changes that had taken place through value addition. One unit of raw material that would fetch only about Rs. 100 could be turned into a finished product that would command a price of Rs. 3000. Referring to an internationally-renowned diamond-cutting establishment in Sri Lanka, he said that it imported uncut diamonds into Sri Lanka to be cut and polished by Sri Lankans for re-export, thus earning a large amount of foreign exchange for the country

Prof. Peiris appreciated the services rendered to the country and society by St. Aloysius’ for 110 years and expressed the wish that it, along with the principal and its staff, would have the courage and determination to continue on this noble path.

Among those who spoke at the occasion was Upali Jayatissa Meegahapola, Principal, St. Aloysius’ College. Ven. Galgamuwe Senaloka Thera, Assistant Principal, Sarath Wannakku, Vice Principal, Karunaratne Paranavithana, Chief Executive Officer, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.