The simple man who made a big contribution to engineering education
It is now three months since Jaya Abeysinghe Gunawardena who made a signal contribution to engineering education in
Sri Lanka left us.
He came from a well established family in Polhena, Matara. His father was a Headmaster and his mother a teacher.
He had his early education at St. Thomas’ College Matara. Even at this stage of his education, the intellectual brilliance which marked his entire career was already evident. He naturally tended to monopolize prize awards in each class. Disregarding the implicit irreverence, some teachers even called him Mahaushada! What was special about his achievements was that they were realized with minimum effort. From an early stage he was an indiscriminate, extensive reader with practically no time devoted to formal studies. Peter Cheyney and Leslie Charteris figured among his favourites. Surprisingly, this habit continued even after he joined Mahinda College Galle for university entrance studies. His classmates were surprised to see their new colleague addicted to comics -- even tucking them in his hip pocket. When the results came, however, he had emerged as the highest achiever not only in his school but in the entire Southern Province, earning for him the then coveted Gymkhana scholarship. This relieved his parents from the need to finance his upkeep while at university, enabling resources to be channelled for the studies of five younger siblings.
He finished his engineering studies again reaping the highest reward and was absorbed immediately to the academic staff. A minor sensation was created when he declined the offer of the country’s most prestigious ‘government scholarship’ for post-graduate studies abroad on the grounds that a contemporary who had scored higher at the finals was overlooked. This was testimony to his steadfast commitment to justice and fairplay, a characteristic which marked his entire career, indeed his whole life. He soon got a chance of doing a Master’s at Perdue University in the States where he was exposed to the emerging field of computer science before ultimately proceeding to Cambridge for his doctorate, the second in his family to pass through its portals.
He recommenced his teaching work at the Engineering Faculty which had shifted by then to Peradeniya. Here he remained for the rest of his working life turning aside the many lucrative opportunities that came his way. Such was his commitment to his vocation and his faculty. He strove successfully fortunately, to maintain the exemplary standards for which the Engineering Faculty was well known. In later years the heavy burden of carrying the faculty forward fell on him with just one other senior don. The uncompromising adherence to rigorous standards for which he incurred some unmerited displeasure, ensured for the products of the Peradeniya Engineering Faculty an enviable reputation in the country and beyond.
Prof. Gunawardena has to be remembered, among other things, as the very first person who introduced computer studies to any teaching institution in Sri Lanka. His guru, the legendary Prof. E.O.E. Perera had requested him to prepare a single page justification for a computer to his faculty. Thus it is that one of two computers first imported to the country in the early ’70s -- of enormous size -- came to the Engineering Faculty while the other went to the famous engineer A.N.S. Kulasinghe in the state sector. The foundation for the exponential expansion of information technology that has now spread to all corners of the country, creating virtually limitless employment opportunities for the country’s youth was laid in the Engineering Faculty at Peradeniya under his initiative.
J.A. Gunawardena was a simple man with a narrow mission. He had no agendas and no involvement in the field of politics. In the University Council as well as the National Science Council, he fought for the cause of science education.
A devoted family man, his life revolved around his devoted wife Lalitha and their daughter Arundathi. In the last years of his life he divided his time between Kandy and Singapore where his daughter lives with her husband -- a diversion which sustained him in spite of his poor health. Let us salute the memory of this simple man who made such a big contribution to the promotion of engineering education in the country at the highest level and wish him the Bliss of Nibbana.
H.P.Wijewardena