About

A/Swarnapali Balika National School located in Anuradhapura district is the only predominating girl’s school with a long and proud history. It was started in 1876 with 28 boys and 4 girls. A congregation of sisters came from the city of Bordo in France was pioneer to commence this school. Among them Mother Selester was the founder of the school.

    First it was named as St.Joseph’s Mixed School situated in the holy city of Anuradhapura. At that time it was a part of the Catholic church. In 1940 it was registered in the government as St.Joseph’s Mixed State Assisted School. In the same year it was detached from the church as a mixed convent consisting of Sinhala,Tamil and English Languages. In 1897 reverend Bishop Julian who was in charge of Jaffna parish donated the land to construct a building in the school. In 1961 it became a state school. The principal at that time was reverend sister Mary Ethel Rida. The total number of students were 617 and the teachers were 19.The school was shifted from the old sacred city to the present day location in 1965.The students had the opportunity of studying in tribhasha;Sinhala,Tamil and English and the principal of it was reverend sister Philip De Neri. After restoration of the school the Tamil convent was connected to Vivekananda and English and Sinhala convents were joined together and named as “Anuradhapura Balika Maha Vidyalaya”. The first principal of this Balika school was also reverend Philip De Neri. The school was well administered under her guidance and after her retirement Mrs.S Uduwara became the principal from 1976 to 1977. The Advanced Level Arts and Commerce streams were started during 60th and early 70th century respectively showing a great breakthrough in the field of sports and esthetics too. A great service to uplift the educational and the spiritual development of the students was rendered by reverend sister Mary Lora working with much enthusiasm and dedication from 1978 to 1989.Due to her tremendous effort the Science and Maths streams which were a lack to the school were also started in the later part of the 70th century. There were classes from grade 1 to 13. At present the school stands as the most exemplary senior school not only in Anuradhapura district but also in North Central Province. According to the intention of the parents on 4th of September 1986 it was named as Swarnapali Balika Maha Vidyalaya. In 1960 reverend sister Mary Lora retired and Mrs.G Basnayake who worked as the deputy principal and the principal of primary section became the principal of the school. Mrs.Basnyake who worked as the principal of the school from 1990 to 1994 rendered a great service creating a growing era in the history of the school. Due to her efforts three storeyed building, the well equipped laboratory and the present administrative building are significant physical resources obtained to the school. She was capable of getting a well competent academic staff for each and every section which paved the way to enhance the talents of students and to obtain all island victories.

    Making another milestone on 25th of May 1993 the school was nominated as a National School and the old girl’s association was started in the same year. After the retirement of Mrs.Basnayake in 1994 the deputy principal Mrs.Y.Subasinghe became the acting principal of the school. Mrs.P.Karunarath ne also worked for the betterment of the school as the principal from 1995 to 1999 and she was capable of establishing a main hall during that period. In 1999 she was promoted to the provincial office.So Mrs.Y Subasinghe and Mrs.Lalitha Kodithuwakku worked as acting principals for a short period of time.

    In 2000 creating a new era to the school Mrs.Irangani I.Rathnayake became the principal and the school became the most predominating and exemplary school in the province including primary,junior and senior sections with a total number of 4067 students and 175 teachers. After her retirement Mrs.Inoka Dharmasiri who worked in charge of primary section became the principal from 2006 to 2011. After assuming duties as the principal in 2011 Mrs.Ramani Wasala renders a great service in collaboration with the community working with much dedication to develop the education as well as the physical resources of the school.