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D.S. Senanayake College Colombo - 7 "ARUNALU" is a dramatic pageant of the primary children and a model concept of highest level to all schools in the Island. The brainchild of this project Dr. Asoka Senani Hewage who initiated the programme in 1998 has been applauded by the parents, the staff, ministry of education, the other schools and society for the benefit of the children,
 It has been designed to allow all children in the primary to participate in many activities. Singing, Dancing, Debating are some of the events of the programme designed to develop a child's ability to perform on stage. It relieves stage and psychological fear for the children as they grow up. The ability to perform extra curricular activities in school will no doubt help them at adulthood.
This concept will no doubt be a model for many other schools to follow. This project will strive to inculcate the necessary values to the children from the inception of their school career. The ARUNALU project has been designed to encourage children to indulge in physical activities as well. The need to make children more active is important to the changing needs of society rather than only concentrate on book instruction. "The children should be made more active in school" says the Principal.
The events displayed at the ARUNALU by the children are focused on peace, harmony, brotherhood, helping the needy and "Placing the country before self". The children should be able to differentiate between good and bad and help the others and grow up to be a good citizen says the Principal primary section Mrs. Nishanthi Amarasuriya who has been instrumental in designing the project with the assistance of other primary teachers. Mrs. Nishanthi Amarasuriya who possesses an abundant supply of tact, diplomacy and commonsense in handling this project for the past 9 years has been a pillar for the success of this project.
This project has been approved by the Ministry of Education as it brings value to the children. The proceeds from the sale of tickets and other contributions for the ARUNALU concert will be utilized for school development activities. In the year 2006, a building costing over Rs 15 million was constructed and reopened with the funds from this project and was named "ARUNALU BUILDING".
This is a major activity in the school calendar every year. Today the Ministry of Education is unable to help national schools for many development activities, so the school has to generate funds for development activities for the betterment of children says the Principal.
The needs of the society changes and the children's requirements in education and extra curricula activities has to be met in par with the society's need, we cannot expect the department of education to fund all development projects undertaken by the school. We need to generate funds to undertake new projects to provide more facilities for the children.
Today D.S. Senanayake College being a school with a short span of history of 42 years is not second to any of the schools in the Island in maintaining discipline and trend setting new projects for the betterment of the children. The present Principal has been instrumental in carrying out many other development projects in the school, the swimming pool, the gymnasium, the state-of-the-art computer room, the carbon neutral project are just a few to mention. Today D.S. Senanayake College Colombo - 07 is a trend setter among the educational institutes.
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