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St. Aloysius' College, Galle
St. Aloysius' College, Galle
	School crest
Address
	Templars' Road; Galle, Southern Province 80000; Sri Lanka
Coordinates	6°2′9″N 80°12′44″E / 6.03583°N 80.21222°E
Information
Type	National School
Religious affiliation(s)	Society of Jesuits and The Church
Established	1895; 130 years ago
Founder	Society of Jesus
Principal	Abeywardhana Anura Gamage
Grades	1 to G.C.E. Advanced Level
Gender	Boys
Number of students	5000
Colour(s)	Green and gold;
Slogan	Latin: Certa Viriliter; Strive Manfully
Alumni	Old Aloysians
Nickname of Students	Aloysian
Website	www.facebook.com/SAC.Galle/

Saint Aloysius' College (Sinhala: සාන්ත ඇලෝෂියස් විද්‍යාලය) is a boys' high school located in Galle, the capital city of Southern Province in Sri Lanka. The school was established in 1895 by recently arrived Belgian Jesuit missionaries, led by Joseph Van Reeth, first bishop of Galle. St. Aloysius' College is a national school that provides primary and secondary education. In 2012, it had 4,000 students on its roll.

History

St. Aloysius' College is situated on Mount Calvary, neighbouring St. Mary's Cathedral on one side and Sacred Heart Convent on the other. The college was established in 1895 by Belgian Jesuit fathers and was named after the Jesuit saint, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. St. Aloysius' College, Galle, is one of many schools named St Aloysius' College.

Until the Sri Lankan government passed legislation for the nationalisation of schools in the island (with an exception of only a few schools), St. Aloysius' College was run by Jesuit Fathers, and the medium of instruction was English. The first Buddhist principal was appointed in 1971, and subsequently the medium of instruction was changed to Sinhala.

College today

The college provides education to 5000 students from grade 1 to G.C.E. A/L. The students of the school fall into diverse religious groups where over 90 percent of students are Buddhists and the others are Christian (or Catholic) and Muslim.

Crest

Centre: IHS – Iesus Hominum Salvator("Jesus Saviour of Mankind")
1. The Tusker – Courage
2. Lilies – Purity of conscience
3. Torch – Torch of learning
4. Rooster – Symbol of Galle

Houses

Students represent five houses that are named after Jesuit Fathers who were pioneers in developing the school in its early days. Students are divided into houses according to their admission number.

-Cooreman
-Murphy
-Neut
-Standaert
-Vanreeth

Sports

Sports is a major part of St. Aloysius’ College. Cricket, Basketball, Rugby, Football, Hockey and Swimming are some of the sports among over 20 sports in College. Among all of them, Rugby takes a prominent role as it has a history starting from 1980s. As a foot step of that, with the motto ‘‘ Born with the Stuff ’’ Rugby was introduced at St. Aloysius’ in latter part of 1980s. The first historic match was played in 1992 against Richmond College. Taking centre stage of the annual sporting calendar are the St. Aloysius' - Richmond Rugby Encounter.

Cricket

The Battle of the Glory of Galle is an annual one-day encounter cricket match played between the cricket teams of Vidyaloka College and St. Aloysius' College, Galle. The contest was started in 2019 under the principal of Vidyaloka College;Prasanna Senewirathne, and the principal of St. Aloysius' College, Galle,Nayanapriya Perera and Anura Gamage.

By 2024, four annual competitions have been held, with St. Aloysius' College, Galle having won three times, while Vidyaloka College has yet to win. In 2024, the match ended in a draw due to bad weather conditions.^[1] Along with this, a one-day competition of under 15 is also held annually. The matches are be held at the Galle International Stadium.

Principals

Period	Principal
1896 – 1910	Joseph Van Reeth
1910 – 1921	Dionysius Murphy
1921 – 1925	John Delaney
1925 – 1949	Ernest Gaspard
1949 – 1962	Paul Nazarine Peiris
1963 – 1968	Paul Caspersz
1968 – 1970	Stephen Fernando (acting)
1970 – 1971	Paul Caspersz
13 June 1971 – 1 April 1972	B. K. Silva
1 April 1972 – 28 February 1973	Dunstan Fernando
28 February 1973 – 3 August 1973	J. B. Varnakulasingham (acting)
3 August 1973 – 22 December 1975	L. D. P. Jayasinghe
22 December 1975 – 25 May 1976	A. B. J. L. Fernando (acting)
25 May 1976 – 7 January 1987	D. Y. Wijewickrama
7 January 1987 – 1996	A. V. Illeperuma
1996 – 2004	N. K. Ariyawansa
2004 –2004	Nandasena Pathirana (acting)
2004 – 2014	D. P. L. S. Gunasekara
2014 - 2014	Piyasiri Kumarage (acting)
2014 - 2017 October	Ranjith Thilakarathne
2017 - 2017	L.P.Weeraman (acting)
2017 - 2020	Nayanapriya Perera
2020 - 2024	Anura Gamage
2024–Present	Pubudu Sampath

Old Boys' associations

There are a number of branches of the school's Old Boys’ Association located all around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Qatar and the United Kingdom.

Notable alumni

Name	Notability	Reference
Ediriweera Sarachchandra	playwright, novelist, poet and literary critic
Cyril Ponnamperuma	Scientist (Molecular Evolution) in Exobiology Division at NASA's Ames Research Center	^[2]
R. I. T. Alles	educationist, founder of D. S. Senanayake College (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
N. U. Jayawardena	economist, Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon (1953–1954)
A. C. Alles	Judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (1964–1974)
Shantha Kottegoda	General - Commander of the Army (2004–2005)
Lalith Gamage	President - Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology
Gihan Wikramanayake	Director, University of Colombo School of Computing
D. V. J. Harischandra	consultant psychiatrist, author, buddhist scholar
Matarage Sirisena Amarasiri	Chief Minister of Southern Province (1998–1993), Governor of Uva (1999–2003)
Chandima Weerakkody	Member of Parliament (Galle) (2009–present)
Sunil Santha	musician, composer, singer, lyricist
A. R. M. Thassim	business owner, philanthropist, Mayor of Galle (1950–51; 1954–62)	^[3]
Patrick Denipitiya	songwriter, composer, music arranger, instrumentalist
Dilith Jayaweera	Chairman - George Steuart Group, Director - Citrus Leisure PLC, Managing Director - Triad (Pvt) Ltd
Lalith Jayaweera	Air Vice Marshal, Director General Health Services at Sri Lanka Air Force
Chathuranga de Silva	One Day International cricket player (2014)
Harsha Vithana	First class cricket player
Mohan P. de Silva	Member of Parliament (Galle) (2010–present)
Asoka Abeygunawardana	Chairman, CEO of Strategic Enterprise Management Agency at Presidential Secretariat
Ashen Bandara	International cricketer
Percy Abeysekera	Cricket superfan