C. W. W.

Kannangara
Christopher William Wijekoon Kannangara
(Sinhala:...;13
October
1884 23 September 1969) was a Sri Lankan lawyer
and politician. Rising up the ranks of Sri Lankas
movement for independence in the early part of the 20th
century, he became the rst Minister of Education in
the State Council of Ceylon, and was instrumental in
introducing extensive reforms to the countrys education
system that opened up education to children from all
levels of society.
Born in rural town in Balapitiya, South, Sri Lanka, his
academic prowess enabled him to win a scholarship to
Richmond College, Galle, a prestigious national school
at the time. Initially working as a lawyer after leaving
school, he entered politics as the movement for indepen- The young Kannangara attended the well known Richmond College, in Galle, Sri Lanka.
dence was gathering strength in Sri Lanka. Kannangara
was rst elected to the Ceylon Legislative Council in 1923
and then to the State Council. He also served as the Presgara a chance to sit for a Richmond College Foundation
ident of the Ceylon National Congress.
scholarship exam. Excelling in Mathematics in the exam,
As Minister of Education in the State Council, Kannan- he won the scholarship, receiving an award for free board
gara introduced extensive reforms to the education sys- and lodging at Richmond College. There he received the
tem of Sri Lanka throughout the 1940s. They betted education of an elite school of the times, far superior inthousands of underprivileged students in rural parts of the structions to that oered at his rural school.[4]
country by making education free for all students. He also
Kannangara was regarded as an excellent all-round stubegan a Central Colleges scheme, which established high
dent at Richmond, leading the Ceylon and British Emquality secondary schools in rural areas of the country.
pire list in Mathematics at the Cambridge Senior ExamKannangaras signicant achievements in areas of eduination in 1903. He also captained Richmond College
cation have led him to being commonly referred to as the
in rst eleven cricket in 1903, and was a member of the
Father of Free Education in Sri Lanka.[1][2]
school soccer team the same year, winning colours for his
performances.[4] He was also regarded as a ne debater
and actor.[3] After leaving school, he taught Mathematics
rst at Richmond College and then Prince of Wales Col1 Early life
lege, Moratuwa and Wesley College, Colombo. While
teaching he studied law, passing out as an Attorney at law
Crestoper William Wijekoon Kannangara was born on 13 in 1910.[5] He set up his rst law practice in Galle the
October 1884, in Randombe, a rural village at Balapitiya same year.[2] He married Edith Weerasooriya in 1922.[3]
in the south of Sri Lanka.[2] The son of John Daniel Wijekoon Kannangara, the Deputy Fiscal Ocer in the Balapitiya Courts, and Emily Wijesinghe, he had his primary education at the Wesleyan Missionary School in 2 Politics
Randombe.[3]

2.1 State council

Kannangara showed great educational promise as a child,

and his achievements were recognised by Rev. J.H Darrel, the Principal of Richmond College, Galle who was
the chief guest at a prize giving of the Wesleyan Missionary School. After noticing that Kannangara won most of
the available prizes, 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."[4] Darrel also gave Kannan-

Kannangara joined Anagarika Dharmapala's historically

signicant temperance movement, and worked actively
with its leaders, including Sir D.B. Jayatilleke, D.S.
Senanayake, F.R. Senanayake and Arthur V. Dias.[3] He
rose to national prominence as a lawyer defending leaders of the Sri Lankan independence movement and oth1

2 POLITICS
ber of the War Council.

2.2 Education reforms

Hon.Kannangara (Standing far right) as a member of the Second

State Council of Ceylon in 1936.

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.[6]
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.[6] 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.[7] In 1942 a special committee was appointed with Kannangara as chairman to report on the status of education in the country.
Among the recommendations for providing lasting value
to the nation given in the report, which was published in
1943, were that[6]
Education should be free from the Kindergarten to
the University.

Kannangara was elected to the Legislative Council of Ceylon in

1923, thrusting him into the very heart of national politics. He
was elected to the State Council in 1931 and again in 1936.

ers who were persecuted by the colonial British administration during the period of martial law which following the Riots of 1915. This also drew him into national
politics, and in 1923 he entered the Legislative Council
of Ceylon, winning a by-election on 13 April 1923 for
a seat in the Galle District made vacant by the demise
of O.C. Tillekaratne by 1969 votes to 115. He was reelected the following year polling 4,177 votes, opposed
to 2310 for his nearest opponent.[2][4][5] Following the
recommendations of the Donoughmore Commission, the
State Council was established in 1931, succeeding the
Legislative Council as the national legislature. Kannangara was elected to the State Council in 1931 and again
in 1936.[2] He also became the President of the Ceylon
National Congress in 1931.[3]
For the rst time, the State Council, which had its members elected via universal surage, compromised Executive Committees and Ministers.[6] Kannangara was appointed as the rst chairman of the Executive Committee of Education in the State Council and thus became
the rst Minister of Education of Sri Lanka in 1931.[6]
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.[4] He is also notable for
being the rst minister to wear the National costume in
the State Council.[3] During World War II, he was a mem-

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.

Kannangara proposed that central schools be modelled upon

Royal College, Colombo, one of the leading schools in the country.

As Minister of Education Kannagara was placed in

charge of implementing the recommendations. Among
the reforms he introduced, which came into operation on
1 October 1945,[3] were to make education free of charge
for all students, to ensure that every student was provided

3
with instruction in the religion of his/her parents, to prevent teachers from been exploited by managers of schools
by having their wages paid directly by the government and
to make adequate provisions for adult education in the
country.[6]
He also established a series of central schools (Madhya
Vidhyala), modelled on Royal College, Colombo, in locations outside major cities. These took high quality secondary education to the rural outstations of the country.[2]
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.[4] 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.[6]
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 rst University in Sri Lanka. Further, Kannangara took steps to abolished the two tier school system, where English was taught to privileged students and
the vernacular language was taught to the rural masses.[2]
While he laid emphasis on teaching Swabasha (native languages) in schools, he also advised that students should
learn English to compete in the modern world.[4]

2.2.1

Opposition

Kannangara however faced signicant opposition to his

move to establish free education in the country, especially from socially and economically privileged groups
who has enjoyed the signicant advantages oered to
them by the British.[2] Signicantly, this included a number of C.W.W Kannangaras political colleges, including
D.S. Senanayake, the rst Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.[8]
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 eorts by Dudley Senanayake, A.
Ratnayaka, 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.[3]

the poll for the Matugama electorate by Wilmot A. Perera, the founder of the popular local school Sri Palee College.[2][4]
Kannangara was then appointed Ambassador to
Indonesia, a post in which he served from 1950 to
1952. He returned to politics again, and was elected
to parliament from the Agalawatta Electorate in 1952,
defeating S.A. Silva. He was appointed Minister of
Housing and Local Government in the new cabinet.[2][4]
He was likely denied the position of Cabinet Minister of
Education as some leading gures in the government did
not wish to give him the opportunity to carry forward
further reforms to the education system.[5]
C.W.W. Kannangara retired from active politics in 1956,
and died on 23 September 1969.[4] There are number of
instituitions named after him in Sri Lanka.[9]
A statue of C. W. W. Kannangara wmabahu Central College in Polgahawela.[10]

3 See also
Education in Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Non Career Diplomats
W. A. de Silva

4 References
[1] Context of Educational Reforms Then and Now, Dr. Mohottige Upali Sedere, Educational Resource and Information Center
[2] The great reformer of education. The Sunday Times. 8
October 2006. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
[3] Wijenayaka, Walter (24 September 2003). C.W.W.
Kannangara: Father of free education. The Daily News.
Retrieved 8 October 2007.
[4] Epasinghe, Premasara (6 September 2006). Father of
free education in Ceylon. The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 7
October 2007.
[5] Jayetilleke, Rohan L. (15 October 2004). How C W W
Kannangara resisted the Bastions of Reaction. The Daily
News. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
[6] Historical Overview of Education in Sri Lanka. Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 7 October 2007.

2.3

Post Independence

In appreciation of his services rendered to

His achievements in parliament in the eld of Education
did not however transfer to popularity among the people
of his electorate, and he lost his seat in parliament in the
General Elections of 1947. Ironically he was defeated in

[7] When the 'nobodiesmade their mark, The Sunday Times

Retrieved 11 February 2015.
[8] D.S. Senanayake was ardently opposed to Kannangaras
educational reforms, especially that proposal to abolish
school fees in the elite denominational schools. It was
notable that the bill was taken up for vote in the State
Council at a time when Senanayake was out of the country

De Silva, K. M. 1981. A history of Sri Lanka. London:

C. Hurst. p.472-474
[9] Gateway contributes to rebuilding C.W.W Kannangara
school
[10] target.lk: Statue Of C W W Kannangara Unveiled, Retrieved 29 January 2012

External links
Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka
CWW Kannangara central college, Mathugama
(First Central College in Sri Lanka)
LMDs 50 greatest Sri Lankans since independence
Ambassador to Indonesia
Methek Kathawa 1 Divaina
Methek Kathawa 2 Divaina

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

C. W. W. Kannangara Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._W._W._Kannangara?oldid=679234263 Contributors: Rich Farmbrough,

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