Why Vidura?

By Somabandhu Kodikara

If anyone does a research on the most worrying aspect of being a parent in Sri Lanka, the forgone conclusion would be ‘finding a school of choice for the child’. 

Seeking admission to a prestigious government school is a nightmare. Prestigious schools belonging to religious communities are next to impossible unless one belongs to the correct community.

International schools are the next option that any parent would look for once they get frustrated looking for a good school for the child. There are of course a few excellent international schools in the country. Unfortunately, the fees charged in these schools are far beyond the capacity of many parents.

The ray of hope for parents who do not wish to waste their time, energy and resources on a futile wild goose chase is Vidura College. Built on a nine and a half acre block of land, in a setting as close to nature as it possibly could be, the Thalawathugoda campus of the school is literally, the dream school for any child.

The Nursery and Primary sections are housed in separate buildings in suburban Nawala in a unique set up where children in each Grade are free to assimilate with their own age group unhindered. They join the mainstream at Thalawathugoda when they go to Grade 5.

SRI LANKAN CURRICULUM

Vidura is a national school teaching the time tested and internationally recognized Sri Lankan curriculum. It is a known fact that GCE Advanced Level – Sri Lanka is very well recognized for admission to best universities in many parts of the world.

The curriculum in the primary includes the core subjects Mathematics, English, Environmental Studies and Computing as well as Sinhala Language, Buddhism, Music, Dancing, Art, Handwork and General Knowledge.

ENGLISH MEDIUM

Vidura College teaches all subjects, except Sinhala Language, in the English medium from Preschool to GCE Advanced Level. Thus, students of Vidura College have the best of two worlds dished out to them at a very affordable price. In addition to the regular curriculum, Vidura College is proud to state that all students from Grade 1 upwards are taught Elocution as a compulsory subject in the time table. It teaches Tamil compulsorily from Grade 3 up. Vidura also teaches Chinese and Hindi as compulsory subjects from Grade 6 up.

TEXT BOOKS

Vidura College has developed its own text books of a high quality for teaching the subjects in the curriculum. These books are not translations of the books used in the government schools but are written by expert teachers based on the curriculum and the teachers’ guides produced by the National Institute of Education. Vidura does not use sub-standard and irrelevant text books produced in neighboring countries.

CAMBRIDGE LANGUAGE COURSES

Students of Vidura from Grade 1 upwards, also have the opportunity of learning English for examinations conducted by University of Cambridge as a non-compulsory afterschool activity facilitated by the school. This programme culminates with the Certificate in Professional English offered by University of Cambridge. This certificate entitles a holder to prove proficiency in English required for admission by foreign universities in the Commonwealth.

ASSESSMENT

Vidura conducts formative and summative assessment in all grades. Students are not only taught the subject content but also coached on how to answer examinations. Practice Question Books have been prepared and used by teachers of all subjects in preparing the students to face examinations.

CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

The school has facilitated a host of co-curricular activities for its students. Vidura is proud to state that it does not go overboard in promoting competitive games. Instead, the principles that Vidura is built on appreciates the necessity of physical activity in developing the psychomotor domains in the brains of children and caters to it accordingly.

UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE

Since students of Vidura College are sitting the Sri Lankan GCE Advanced Level examination, they have the privilege of entering the state universities to receive tertiary education in Sri Lanka. This is unfortunately not allowed for students attending international schools who sit for London examinations.

ETHOS OF THE SCHOOL – Discipline, Culture and Values

The strength of Vidura College is in its deep rooted values system. Vidura believes that the students should be given nothing but the best education found in the world – irrespective of whether it comes from the West or from the East. However Vidura also believes that its students should be firmly and steadfastly rooted in the culture, traditions and the norms of the motherland. Vidura is firmly and unshakably built on the foundation of Buddhist education. 

In all Grades, the school starts every morning after performing religious worship and meditation. It has been amply demonstrated that the morning ritual settles the minds of the children to receive the education throughout the rest of the day.

The school also prides itself in the fact that it celebrates religious and national events like Vesak, Poson, Sinhala New Year, National Independence Day etc.

Students of Vidura grow up as self-disciplined, decent and cultured citizens of Sri Lanka that the motherland can be truly proud of.Most importantly, at Vidura we walk the talk.

(The writer, B.Sc., Dip. in Edu., IDEPA, is 

Principal of the Primary School at 

Vidura College, Colombo.)