Our History
About US
I) History of Nadeswara College Part 1
(1901-1990)
Kankesanthurai, in the Northern tip of Sri Lanka, historically and geographically placed as a very important cosmopolitan town, boasting with its cement factory, customs, harbour and terminal railway station, airport and cinemas etc, etc. Nadeswara college stood out as the only Grade 1 school in the town that proudly produced academics, professionals in many disciplines and parliamentarians.
In 1901, adjacent to Narasinga Vairavar Hindu temple (at College Road) an “English Elementary school” was started. It was started by the Arumuga Udaiyar family that hailed from Thiyiddy village in Kankesanthurai. While this school was functioning, there was another school established at the location of current Nadeswara College Junior school. When started, this school was called “Hindu Tamil School”. The architect and the founder of this school was late Mr K. Thambipillai who hailed from Veemankamam village. Students studied up to the senior level at this school. These two different institutions in Tamil medium and English medium merged together in 1945 and called “Nadeswara College”. Hence the College history starts from 1901.
While both schools were functioning at the same time in the same year of 1901 the Udaiyar family who started the English School experienced various difficulties and decided to hand over his school to Mr. K Thambipillai. As a result of the handover the “English Elementary School” continued to run at the current Nadeswara College Senior section. Mr Thambipillai managed to run these two schools in the vicinity of close locations on either side of the college Road.
In 1924, “English Elementary School” name was changed to “Hindu English School”. Again in 1945, “Hindu English School” name was changed to “Nadeswara College”. It is thought the Mr. K. Thambipillai then had a son called Nadewaran and he might have chosen the name “Nadeswara College” for that reason.
Before 1940, the school was a fee levying school with Government Grant based on the number of students. There was canvassing to increase the number of intakes every year by the management. Two people took the responsibility of this difficult task. One was the manager Mr Thambipillai and the other was Chandrasoodamani Iyer Ayer who was the headmaster of the English School and later became the principal of Nageswara College. Chandrasoodamani Iyer was the architect of the college from 1930’s till late 40’s. The Old Hall, 2 adjoining rooms and Kali Amman temple in the school was built in the early 40’s.
In 1949, “Hindu Tamil School” was merged with Nadeswara College to ease administration. On the 1st of September 1957, Nadeswara College was given the status of a Grade 1 school by the government. The gentleman who worked tirelessly was Mr. V. Kandasamy. He was the principal of Nadeswara College at that time. It is not an exaggeration to mention that he laid the foundation stone of this achievement and continued to build up the school during his time. A man of very high calibre, Mr V. Kandasamy, who dedicated his whole of life and wealth for the school. He brought modern concepts of school administration, upgrading its level in examinations, library facilities, science laboratories. Mr Kandasamy too, was an architect to upgrade sports and all aspects of education to national standards. In the 50’s with Mr Kandasamy’s personal dedication to the school, he was able to increase the student number, increase the examination results and produced great sports personalities who became famous in Jaffna district and even in Ceylon. He turned the school into one of the prominent challengers to be par with many leading schools in the region. Sadly. Mr. Kandasamy passed away at an early age while in service due to illness. Mr. Markandu succeeded Mr. Kandasamy.
In 1962, Nadeswara College that ran under private management was taken over by the government like many other schools in the island of Sri Lanka. As a result of this on the 1st of January 1979, the Junior school and the secondary school were separated and began to function under separate administration with the separate Headteacher and principal respectively. However, all the Junior school students gained automatic admission into the secondary school and the junior school played a role as a feeder school. The Junior school catered for students up to Grade 5 while the secondary from Grade 6 to GCE Advanced Level.
Before the beginning of the civil war, there were more than 1500 students with more than 60 teaching staff. Students excelled in Fine Arts, Education, Sports and Culture. The school produced outstanding athletes who were record holders in the Jaffna School Sports association Inter School Athletic Meet and represented in Public Schools (all island) Athletic meets and won prizes particularly in 1952.
In the year of 1990, due to the civil war in Sri Lanka, Kankesanthurai was declared as a high-security zone and the school had to move to a place called Chunnagam to temporarily accommodate the students that declined in number from thousands to hundreds. It was a sad state and crucial time for Nadeswara College to function. However, the old students never lost hope and continue to support the school financially. More details to follow in the Part 2 of this article (Postwar status of Nadeswara College)
Prepared by: Sellathurai Shanmuganthan
Trustee, Nadeswara Old Student Trust & College Coordinator.
Trustee, Nadeswara Old Student Trust & College Coordinator.