Rienzie Algiyawanna with his German wife and two children. Several Sri Lankan special needs schools bear his name
A visually-impaired Sri Lankan educator who served his country of birth and the world for more than four decades remains a forgotten man today.
Mr. Rienzie Alagiyawanna, was a trailblazer in the field of education in Sri Lanka with a significant disadvantage: he became blind halfway through his life due to a rare eye disorder.
His handicap did not discourage him. Credited in the early part of his life for pioneering several educational institutions, he diverted his attention to set up schools for handicapped children after he became blind.
When Mr. Alagiyawanna’s was elected as the President of the International Federation of the Blind (IFB) he took the initiative to organize the international conference of the association in Colombo in 1969 October.
Mr. Alagiyawanna, who was born on January 16 in 1916 in Colombo, had his education at St. Joseph’s College, where his father was serving as a teacher. After obtaining the English Teacher Certificate from Cambridge University, he began his teaching career at St. Lucia College in Kotahena.
In 1944 he joined as the principal in Balangoda Sri Dharmananda Vidyalaya established by the renowned Buddhist scholar Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maithriya Maha Nayake Thero. The school flourished under Mr. Alagiyawanna’s guidance and in a short time it was upgraded to a central college under the name Balangoda Madya Maha Vidyalaya.
During this time, he was suffering from a rare eye disease which was deteriorating his sight gradually, but that did not dampen his enthusiasm and dedication. He resigned and joined as the chief of the English Department of the Sri Dharmananda Pirivena. This Buddhist education institute was also established by Ven. Ananda Maithriya. The pirivena is situated on a hillock close to the central college, facing spectacular Pettigala mountain.
Mr. Alagiyawanna took steps to expand the education in the pirivena, which was limited to the Buddhist monks. He threw open the doors for the adult students by expanding English classes adding subjects like shorthand and typing to its curriculum to make it easy for the students to find employment opportunities. It is well-known that he used his own money to pay the teachers and buy the required equipment.
Nico, the grandson of Mr. Alagiyawanna has written us to say that his grandmother, Monica, died of cancer 25 years ago. Daniel, the son of Mr. Alagiyawanna, the little boy in the picture, has been in Sri Lanka for the last 15 years. His daughter is in Colombo for the last two years. Daniel is looking for details about his father to create a website about him. If you have details or met him please message us for Daniel’s email address
His sight began to deteriorate, but it did not deter him from serving the people. In 1956, to coincide with the celebrations of the Buddha Jayanthi or the 2500th anniversary of the birth of the Buddha, he established another school in Balangoda, known as Buddha Jayanthi Vidyalaya. His popularity as a selfless individual who worked tirelessly to develop education among the masses without fanfare won the hearts of the people who helped him in the relentless pursuit of his goals.
Realizing that the rural girls did not have enough facilities to study, he sought help from the wealthy people in Balangoda to build a school for the underprivileged girls.
His friends and well-wishers were alarmed by the neglect of his health. There were no facilities to treat his eyes, and many suggested him to go abroad for treatment, but he was obsessed with the welfare of the schools he started in Sri Lanka. He also took a keen interest in propagating Buddhism.
Mr. Alagiyawanna, who had a penchant for learning languages, joined the German Technical Institute to learn German and was included in the first-ever Buddhist missionary delegation to West Germany. He reached Germany in 1957 and spent his first few months in the West Berlin Buddhist Temple, presenting religious discussions and teaching English to German children.
That was the time he met his future German wife, Monica, who consulted many doctors to treat his eyes but unfortunately, his sight was beyond repair. Mr. Alagiyawanna started learning advanced German to gain proficiency, which became a considerable help to deliver religious discussions and master skills in the education of the sight-impaired.
He entered a well-known college and obtained a degree in psychology. By that time, he was totally blind, but he was not ready to back down on his commitments. He studied Braille and typing and met several visually-handicapped Germans and befriended a principal of a leading German school for the blind. Inspired by this gentleman, in 1959, Mr. Alagiyawanna came to Sri Lanka accompanied by a good friend, Mrs. Schaefer, a philanthropist, who taught him advanced German in West Berlin.
On his return, he was appointed in charge of the Siviraja Home for the Blind in Mahaweva, a rural area one and half hour’s drive from capital Colombo. This home was established by the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress. He was instrumental in increasing the intake of the visually-impaired children and upgraded it to a higher educational institution renaming it as Siviraja School for the Blind and expanded education up to GCE OL and AL levels. Later, under his guidance, the college began providing facilities for hearing-impaired children.
He opened the Yashodara Deaf and Blind School in Balangoda in the same facility he earmarked for a girls’ school. Focussing his attention on the other areas, he was instrumental in establishing a school for hearing impaired in Anuradhapura and Rohana School for Deaf and Blind in Matara, deep south of the island.
In 1962 he left for Hanover, Germany, to take part in a conference on the education of visually-impaired. He went to Berlin to meet his friends, including Monica and enrolled at the University of Heidelberg to follow a two-year course on the education of visually-handicapped. After a one-year study period, he took a break and came back to Sri Lanka and departed to address a conference of International Federation of the Blind in New York.
He attended another meeting in California, where he was elected as the secretary of the IFB. He went back to Germany and married Monica and resumed studies at the Heidelberg University.
In 1965 he was back in Sri Lanka to attend to the development of his schools, and in 1968 he was elected as the president of IFB. In October 1969, the international conference of the global organization was held in Colombo with the participation of a large number of participants from various parts of the world.
I was happy to meet this great man, who had dedicated his life to the education of the less fortunate sections, in the summer of 1984 at the Berlin Buddhist Temple. We had a long chat seated in the temple in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, where one could see the East German guards training their binoculars across the border, perched on their watchtowers.
Mr. Alagiyawanna was 68 of years of age at the time and spending his time in retirement, but still, he was focussed on helping the people who needed his assistance. He had two children, a daughter and a son, from his wife Monica whom he described as an extraordinary woman who looked after and inspired him to carry on with his educational work. As I can remember, she worked as a nurse at that time.
He was delighted to know that I was born in Balangoda where he started his life. I also told him that I had taken part in fund-raising events for the Yashodara School for Deaf and Blind. I had seen him several times there, walking with the aid of a white cane or helped by others.
He had two brothers. K.L.V. Alagiyawanna, who worked as a senior lecturer at the Kelaniya University Education Faculty while the other brother, Nanda, served as the Director of the Sri Lankan Tourist Board.
How this great man served tirelessly for the welfare of the impaired seems to have gone into oblivion. It isn’t very easy to find any material relating to his services. He was a simple man who believed in serving the people without fanfare. He had spent his own money to start some of his projects at a time when the people with impairment had no options other than begging in the streets.
Mr. Alagiyawanna will be remembered as a man, who spent half of his life in darkness, trying his best to rescue his fellow beings through education to serve the world.
I heard he passed away sometime after I met him, but I am not sure exactly when. The Web has no details about him. A very simple, down-to-earth person, he did not like publicity or fanfare to serve a neglected section of the society, away from the media spotlight. He remains same after his demise.
This article is based on a booklet that Mr. Alagiyawanna presented to me at the Berlin Buddhist Temple in 1984. It was printed by his friends, students and well-wishers to honour his silent services. As far I know, this eight-page booklet bearing a grainy picture of his family, is the only attempt to appreciate Mr. Alagiyawanna’s services to humanity.
I wish to mention an oft-quoted aphorism. Life is temporary; but the name is immortal. If a name is to remain timeless, people have to remember the man and his services to humanity! Sad to say, it is not happening in the case of this great man who served the world at a heavy personal cost. – Somasiri Munasinghe
