Our Alma Mater Maris Stella College
View(s):- You gave us golden wings to help the humankind.
- You cared to make us feel proud in the way of life
Maris Stella College Negombo is an illustrious Catholic school in Sri Lanka. Producing well-rounded individuals to the world, she is on the verge of celebrating her 100th birthday in 2022.
Vision and courage laid the foundations of Maris Stella College in 1922 after the arrival of the Marist brothers in Sri Lanka in 1911. From humble beginnings, the College had ploughed her arduous way through storm and stress, to be one of the most prominent schools in the island. Through the years the College has bagged many accolades in the academic arena, sports, and co-curricular activities alike.
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- Rev. Brother Sunanda Alwis Principal, Maris Stella College, Negombo
The pride of Maris Stella College is her alumni among whom prominent citizens in various fields. Today they rally around the red and blue flag, which is fluttering high in the sky. For the jewels in the Maristonion crown, the College pays a tribute of gratitude towards God and Mother Mary, along with St. Marcellin Champagnet, producing thousands of blessed Maristonians under the motto ‘ITER PARA TUTUM’, which means ‘Show us the way’.
As preparations are underway for the centennial celebrations of the College, the current principal of Maris Stella College, Rev. Brother Sunanda Alwis, gave us some insights as to what 100 years Marist education and
values encapsulate.
How do you describe the formation
one would acquire, while being
a student at Maris Stella College,
under Marist Education?
If the official Sinhala term for ‘education’, ‘adhyapana’ deliberately were to be replaced by ‘Siksana’, a classical designation, a pedagogical programme that intends to make children spiritually wholesome, socially responsible & intellectually creative. What I describe here in a nutshell is the education policy Marist Brothers, Teachers have been following while advocating here at Maris Stella College, since its foundation, hundred years ago.
It is quite intriguing that the official Sinhala translation of “teaching hospital” in our country is ‘siksana rohal’. I wonder whether those studying in such institutions are made to realise that the Sinhala Sanskrit word siksana, has given rise to the Sinhala word hikmima, “taming” – obvious alluding an education that is geared to the taming of the beast that lives in every human.
By contrast, “adyapana”, the most common term in vogue for conveying the meaning of education derived from Sanscrit ‘adhi’, as prefixed to the verbal root “I” meaning to go, resulting in the word adyapana which literally denotes “to proceed further” or to progress, and used as a synonym for “study”.
The obvious question that bothers us is: Where do we lead our children? In which direction do we push them? Where does the journey end? The media has provided ample information about where these students, have been led today at all three levels of education; from primary through secondary to tertiary.
Could you explain, what you mean by “taming the beast”
The Three Beast – Tamers
The three beast-tamers that are employed at Maris Stella College are aesthetics, sports & religion all of which together prevent educational programmes from producing intellectual monsters. The curriculum includes an intensive pedagogical programme that exposes our students to these three agents of humanization.
Sports : We are happy that the International Olympic Committee has recognised five humanizing elements in Sports, after losing sight of them for centuries. Recently they have declared what they call “five Educational Values of Olympism”; (1) The joy of effort, (2) Fair Play, (3) Respect for other (4) Pursuit of Excellence and (5) Balance between Body, Will and Mind. These have been the educational values that Maris Stella College, has been striving hard to inculcate in its Students for the last 100 years. All kinds of sport equips the human personality with the much desired psycho-physical equilibrium. On the other hand, art & music “soothe the savage beast” in humans.
The Religion which is taught here at Maris Stella College, is not restricted to rules & regulation, do’s and don’ts, rites & rituals or doctrinal theories. The student is invited to taste the joy of being a good human, each according to his own religious tradition, so that they learn to see in the horizon something beyond this life – this life which is bracketed by birth & death. Following the long-standing tradition of Asian cultures, we maintain that, education must necessarily include moral discipline. Religious education is meant to turn out humans who are ‘gentle as the doves but astute as serpents,’ (Mt. 10:16), i.e. endowed with both “karuna” & “pragna.”
Home – School merger
The natural seat of education is the family. The beast from whom we evolved and who is living in us received its primary education in their nests and dens under the guidance of their parents and the greater community of the drove, the flock, the herd, the pack, and so on. Our task as humans is to take charge of the evolutionary movement and guide it to the acme of human perfection, as the great paleontologist – philosopher, Telihard de Chardin had urged. Rather than replacing domestic education with its artificial duplicate in a formal school., we must establish a formal inter – relationship between the natural habitat of learning and the institutes of systematic education. The school has to be a prolongation of the home. That’s the reason, we at Maris Stella College uphold and endorse a cordial teacher – parent relationship.
Please, enlighten us briefly on
Inter – Religious Unity in your school environment ……
In our country and elsewhere we are venturing through a stormy period in which various ideologies such as racism, linguistic chauvinism and religious bigotry are drawing the world towards the vicious claws of fundamentalism. Religious Leaders, including the Teachers have to arrest this spiritual disorder before it becomes an epidemic. The antidote has to be administered to our students at a tender age, when whatever good or bad sown in their sub-conscious regions will one day evolve into an ineradicable growth. Hence, we take every possible means to plant the liberative essence of each religion in their impressionable minds and hearts.
Are you aware of the “Educational Diseases” of our country?
There has been much discussion and debate in the media in recent times about many diseases which afflict Education in Sri Lanka. The whole education system has been severely critiqued, indicating the need for thorough reform. Strangely, many attempts have been made to reform education during the past couple of decades, to no avail.. In fact, matters seem to have become worse.
What has been happening at Maris Stella for 100 long years?
Always keeping the realities that surround us, we are in the mission of harmonizing our relationship with (a) oneself (b) other human beings (c) nature with being aware of the realities that surround us. Our pedagogical relationships are based on the 5 Pillars of Marist Education, namely (1) Presence (2) Simplicity (3) Family Spirit (4) Love of Work (5) In the way of Mary.
The Dough is rising into Bread, Omega at Maris Stella, College, where we have started sharing our Hundred Year Life Story with the world!
We at Maris Stella spread passion & joy to all, quietly creating a new world
Dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking,
Academics, Sports, Music, drama, dance, meditation, prayer,
Hugs & smiles, kind words, random acts of kindness;
We are in the “business” of changing the world,
By changing our minds & hearts, listening to the “gurus” of the world.
We know quietly & humbly
We have the power of the oceans combined.
The talents & challenges are enveloping us all willy nilly,
But the more conscious ones are Maristonians who are the activists, the quiet activists,
And their numbers growing and The new world is emerging
At Maris Stella
THE DOUGH IS RISING!
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