C. W. W. Kannangara
Cristopher William Wijekoon Kannangara was a Sri Lankan lawyer and a politician. Rising up the ranks of Sri Lanka's movement for independence in the early part of the 20th century, he became the first Minister of Education in the State Council of Ceylon, and was instrumental in introducing extensive reforms to the country's education system that opened up education to children from all levels of society.
Born in the Southern coastal town of Hikkaduwa, his academic prowess enabled him to win a Foundation Scholarship to Richmond College, Galle, a prestigious secondary school at the time. After leaving school, he worked as a teacher in Mathematics at Wesley College, Colombo and Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa. He excelled as a lawyer in the Southern Province which made the public of the area to nominate him to contest at the legislative council election representing the Southern Province at which he made an easy win as a member of the legislative council. This was the beginning of his political career. Later, he entered the national movement for independence. Kannangara was first elected to the Ceylon Legislative Council in 1923 and then to the State Council. He also served as the President of the Ceylon National Congress.
As Minister of Education in the State Council, Kannangara introduced extensive reforms to the education system of Sri Lanka throughout the 1940s. They benefitted thousands of underprivileged students in rural parts of the country by making education free for all students. He also began a Central Colleges scheme, which established high quality secondary schools in rural areas of the country. Kannangara's significant achievements in areas of education have led him to being commonly referred to as the Father of Free Education in Sri Lanka.
Early life
Christopher William Wijekoon Kannangara was born on 13 October 1884, at Wee Badu Walawwa in the village of Wewala, off Hikkaduwa in the Southern Province of Ceylon. It has been inaccurately quoted that Kannangara was born in Randombe,. Born to John Daniel Wijekoon Kannangara, the Deputy Fiscal in the Police Magistrate's Court Balapitiya, and Emily Wijesinghe, daughter of Mudliyer Wijesinghe. He had four siblings and his mother passed away when he was small. His father remarried and four more children from his second wife. Later he lost his job and the family went through financial hardships.Education
Young Kannangara received his primary education at the Wesleyan Missionary School and his achievements were brought to the attention of Rev. J.H Darrel, Principal of Richmond College, Galle who happen to be the chief guest at a prize giving of the Wesleyan Missionary School. Having noticed that most of the prizes where won by Kannangara, he is said to have remarked "''Son, you may have to hire a bullock cart to take home the books you collected at this prize giving. Darrel also gave Kannangara a chance to sit for a Richmond College Foundation scholarship exam. Excelling in Mathematics in the exam, he won the scholarship, receiving an award for free and lodging at Richmond College. There he received the education of an elite school of the times, far superior instructions to that offered at his school.Kannangara was regarded as an excellent all-round student at Richmond, leading the Ceylon and British Empire list in Mathematics at the Cambridge Senior Examination in 1903. He also captained Richmond College in first eleven cricket in 1903, and was a member of the school soccer team the same year, winning colours for his performances. He was also regarded as a fine debater and actor.
Early career
After completing his schooling at Richmond College, he joined its teaching staff as a mathematics teacher and thereafter went on to teach mathematics at Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa and at Wesley College, Colombo. While teaching, he studied law and passed the Proctor's Intermediate examination in July 1908 and the Proctor's Final examination in July 1910, thereby qualifying as a Proctor in 1910. That year he left Wesley College and came to Galle, where he started his legal practice in civil law.An active member in Galle society, from 1911 to 1920 he served as the secretary of Richmond College Old Boys Union, committee member of the Galle Cricket Club and the Galle Gymkhana Club. He was known as a good billiard player. He also served as the honorary secretary of the Galle Reading Room, he was a member of the library committee and the Galle Poor relief Committee, Vice President of the Sinhalese Young Men's Association and General Secretary of the Temperance Union, Galle.
Entry to politics
Kannangara joined Anagarika Dharmapala's historically significant temperance movement, and worked actively with its leaders, including Sir D.B. Jayatilleke, D.S. Senanayake, F.R. Senanayake and Arthur V. Dias. In 1911, elections were held for the first time to elect an Educated Ceylonese to the Legislative Council of Ceylon. The two primary contests were Ponnambalam Ramanathan and Marcus Fernando. Strongly supporting Ramanathan, Kannangara was elected Honorary Secretary of the committee supporting Ramanathan in the Southern Province. Ramanathan was elected to the Legislative Council over Fernando. He gained popularity for his work legal work in the defense of the leaders of the Sri Lankan independence movement and others who were persecuted by the colonial British administration during the period of martial law which following the Riots of 1915. In the following elections in 1917, Kannangara once again supported Ramanathan against J.S. Jayawardena. That year, Kannangara had formed the first political association in Galle, the Galle National Association. He thereafter joined the Ceylon National Congress.Legislative Council
His kinsman O. C. Tillekeratne, Legislative Council member for the Southern Province, died on 13 April 1923 in a fatal train accident at the Wellawatte station. Kannangara contested for the vacant seat in a by-election that was held on 23 May 1923 and was elected to the Legislative Council with a majority of 1854 votes against David de Silva who gained 115 votes to Kannangara's 1969 votes. He was reelected in the 1924 elections, defeating Francis de Zoysa by polling 4,177 votes, opposed to 2310 by Zoysa.State Council
In 1931, he was elected President of the Ceylon National Congress. That year following the recommendations of the Donoughmore Commission, the State Council of Ceylon was established, succeeding the Legislative Council as the island's legislature. Kannangara was elected to the State Council, defeating S.H. Dahanayake. For the first time, the State Council, which had its members elected via universal suffrage, compromised Executive Committees and Ministers. Kannangara was appointed as the first chairman of the Executive Committee of Education in the State Council and thus became the first Minister of Education of Ceylon in 1931. Apart from Kannangara, the Executive Committee of Education consisted of H. W. Amarasuriya, W.T.B. Karaliyadda, A. Ratnayaka G.R. De Zoysa, P.E. Madawela and Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe. He is also notable for being the first minister to wear the National costume in the State Council. He was re-elected in 1935 and was re-elected as Minister of Education. During World War II, he was a member of the War Council.Education reforms
Executive Committee of Education exercised its powers to create new regulations paving the way for the establishment of a new system of education in Sri Lanka. The new system was expected to ensure that education was provided with equal opportunities for all children in the country, irrespective of social class, economic condition, religion and ethnic origin. Whilst the education in vernacular schools had been free prior to the reforms due to government grants to cover the cost of teaching and local philanthropists providing the buildings, equipment and the books, it was not standardised. Among the recommendations made by the Executive Committee of Education for providing "lasting value to the nation" given in the report, which was published in 1943, were that- Education should be free from the Kindergarten to the University.
- The mother tongue should be used as the medium of instruction in the Primary Schools.
- English should be taught in all schools from standard III.
- A curriculum for the child which would develop its "head, heart and hands" should be introduced. In other words, the education of the emotions is as necessary as the education of intellect and practical ability for the well-being of the child.
Kannagara established a series of central schools, modelled on Royal College, Colombo, in locations outside major cities. These took high quality secondary education to the rural outstations of the country. His objective was to create a central school in every electorate in the country, and as such, while in 1941 there were three central schools in the country; by 1945 the number had increased to 35, and to 50 by 1950. First Central College established in Akuramboda, Matale.In 1943 Kannangara also launched an annual scholarship program, which provided the opportunity for the 20 best performers of the scholarship exam to get free board and lodging in Central School hostels.
During his 16-year period as Minister of Education, he also upgraded ancient pirivenas, educational establishments for Buddhist monks, and established the University of Ceylon, the first University in Sri Lanka. Further, Kannangara took steps to abolish the two tier school system, where English was taught to privileged students and the vernacular language was taught to the rural masses. While he laid emphasis on teaching Swabasha in schools, he also advised that students should learn English to compete in the modern world. Kannangara was a strong supporter for the establishment of the University of Ceylon and the University Bill passed by the State Council on 1 March 1942. In the first convocation of the University of Ceylon, Kannangara was conferred a LLD, in recognition of his services to education.
Opposition
Kannangara however faced significant opposition to his move to establish free education in the country, especially from socially and economically privileged groups who has enjoyed the significant advantages offered to them by the British. Significantly, this included a number of C.W.W Kannangara's political colleagues, including D.S. Senanayake, the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Kannangara spoke for six and a half hours to convince other members of the council to vote for the bill, and was supported in his efforts by H. W. Amarasuriya, Dudley Senanayake, J. R. Jayewardene, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke and Dr. N. M. Perera. There was also a public campaign launched by Dr. E. W. Adikaram, Professor G.P. Malalasekera and Mr. L. H. Metthananda to support the bill, which was eventually passed in the State Council in July 1945.Post Independence
His achievements in the State Council in the field of Education did not however translate to popularity among the people of his electorate, and he lost his seat in parliament in the General Elections of 1947. He was defeated in the poll for the Matugama electorate by Wilmot A. Perera, the founder of the popular local school Sri Palee College. Kannangara was then appointed Ceylon's Consul General to Indonesia, a post in which he served from 1950 to 1952. He returned to politics again, and was elected to the Parliament of Ceylon from the Agalawatta electorate in the 1952 general elections, defeating S.A. Silva. He was appointed Minister of Housing and Local Government in the new cabinet of Dudley Senanayake and served as the Chief Government Whip. He was most possibly denied the position of Cabinet Minister of Education as some leading figures in the government did not wish to give him the opportunity to carry forward further reforms to the education system.He was a strong supporter of the cause to spread Buddhism in the West then gaining increasing public support in Sri Lanka in the immediate post - independence period. At a Public Meeting held at Ananda College, Colombo on 30 May 1953 which was presided by Hon. C.W.W.Kannangara, then Minister of Local Government, to make public the findings of the survey carried out by Asoka Weeraratna on the current state of Buddhist activities in Germany and the prospects for a Buddhist Mission to Germany before the Buddha Jayanthi celebrations in 1956, Hon. C.W.W. Kannangara moved the following Motion: " This House is of the opinion that the public of Ceylon should fully support the efforts of the Lanka Dhammaduta Society for the establishment of the Sambuddhasasana in Germany and propagate Buddhism in Europe ". The Hon. C.W.W.Kannangara further said that the Lanka Dhammaduta Society was going to serve one of the greatest causes of Buddhism launched after the Great Emperor Asoka of India. He therefore urged that all Buddhists should back the Society in every way in order to help it to establish the Buddhasasana firmly in He showed his unstinting support for the cause of Buddhist missionary work in the West by attending several of the public meetings of this Society namely the launch of the One Million Rupee Fund held at the Colombo Town Hall on 6 September 1954 which was presided by Hon. Dudley Senanayake and the opening of the new Headquarters of the German Dharmaduta Society at 417, Bullers Road, Colombo 07, by Hon. S.W.R.D Bandaranaike, then Prime Minister of Ceylon, on 7 August 1956. Hon. C.W.W. Kannangara, in his capacity as the Minister of Local Government attended the opening ceremony of the Sixth Buddhist Council in Rangoon, Burma which commenced on 17 May 1954 and he read out the Message of Right Hon. Sir John Kotelawala, then Prime Minister of Ceylon, welcoming the inauguration of the Sixth Buddhist Council.
C.W.W. Kannangara retired from active politics in 1956. In 1961, he was awarded a DLitt by the Vidyodaya University. He died on 23 September 1969 at the Colombo General Hospital. His remains were cremated according to traditional Buddhist rites at the Anderson Golf Links which later became the site of the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall at Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07. There are a number of institutions named after him in Sri Lanka.
A statue of C. W. W. Kannangara has been erected at the Parakramabahu Central College in Polgahawela. A new book under the title ‘No Pearl of Greater Price’ being a biography of C.W.W Kannangara written by the erudite Buddhist Scholar Dr. Ananda Guruge was released on 28 December 2013 at a public meeting held at the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress