Vigneswara Tamil Vidyalayam is located in Hopton, a “tea plantation” village in Lunugala town in the middle of a mountain range (about 150 km from Colombo and elevated about 750 m above the sea level).
This school was started during the British colonization period in 1938 with only one “shack” building. The persistent effort of the villagers made it possible to upgrade this school to a Secondary School (grade 1 to Grade 11) with 480 students and 30 teachers. Guided by the current principal Mr. S. Thiyagasundaram, this School became a “model School” with awards and achievements.
The Community around this school is very poor with the parents are mostly plantation labours. The main agricultural product of this community is tea. There are many beautiful tea estates in Lunugala. For generations, the majority of the villagers are labours in the tea estate. Additionally people cultivate pepper, cinnamon and cacao and do home based small business.
Presently there is awareness for education in this area. The villagers need help and support to find the resource for education. This was identified by Rose Charities Srilanka two years ago. For RCSL, it has been a new experience to work in the Hill Country.
For the last two years RCSL provides educational support. Since 2014 Rose Lanka Microcredit has also started a village group in Hopton, Lunugala with the support of AMDA. So far there are 52 active members from this village group.
This school became the main recipient of various types of support from Rose Charities Srilanka and Rose Lanka Microcredit pvt ltd. For the last two years education materials, books and other supports were given to this school
This year the volley ball team of Vigneswara Tamil Vidyalayam (under 15 age group) came third place in all island level. This is a milestone in the history of this school. Rose Charities Srilanka and Rose Lanka Microcredit gave volley ball, nets and shoes to those kids. Few of the boys who were achieved this were from the microcredit families of Rose Charities.
The story did not end here. Like the previous years, 8 Primary students have passed in the Grade 5 Scholarship Exams held this year. They were felicitated by Rose Charities Srilanka and Rose Lanka Microcredit. Medals were awarded to these kids.
The school community is grateful for what has been done and welcome the efforts of Rose Charities Srilanka and Rose Lanka Microcredit for future support.