Message from the Manager - Wesley College / President Methodist Church, Sri Lanka

We are all proud and happy as Wesleyites as we begin to cross a great milestone, the 150^th Anniversary of our beloved ‘Alma Mater’, Wesley College.

We rejoice and thank God for this great and glorious institution, which had humble beginnings, but grew rapidly to be a contextually relevant institution preparing students for the future, than simply being a ‘Knowledge imparting’ school.  We remember with praise and honour to God, for all those who pioneered the same and built the school over the years for what it is today.  The sacrifices made by many Missionaries, all Sri Lankans who sacrificially built upon the foundations laid by them, the exemplary citizens it has produced over the past one and half centuries, promoting healthy relationships among all religious and ethnic communities are some of the blessings to be counted, acknowledged one by one as an act of Thanksgiving to God.  A spirit of gratitude and honour to all those who made our past so glorious, must pervade throughout the great celebration we envisage in 2024.

It must also be acknowledged that we are placed in a crucial time in the life of our country, where social conditions are rapidly changing and the students are subject to many unexpected challenges.  Therefore, it is important to reflect upon our present condition and make this great institution a relevant and an inspiring one, not only to gear our students to be imbibed in core values of humanity and to be prepared and equipped to face the challenges ahead, but transform them into stepping stones of success while being exemplary models of good citizenship that will contribute to the bonding of our nation as one family, where prosperity and peace for all citizens is ensured.

As we move towards 2024 it is important for us to envisage and visualize the kind of ‘Wesley’ we would like to see in the future.  This visioning should evolve in a participatory process, where the Methodist Church and other key stakeholders, very specially the Parents, whose children are entrusted to our care are fruitfully engaged.  We need to dream beyond our human limitations, divisions and barriers, a dream that takes us beyond our individual agendas and collective sentimentalism. We need to be willing to pay the price for the dynamic growth of the future ‘Wesley’, about which we dream and visualize.

We have sung the great lines from our College song:

            ‘We’ll do our best with Mart or hall

             We’ll do our best with bat or ball

             Taking cool whatever befalls

             Wesley to the fore”