Guides
and Scouts of Sri Lanka
[February
22, 2002 -
12.10 GMT]
 Scouts
and Guides of Sri Lanka celebrate the birthday of both Lord and Lady
Powell with a peace march today.
Scouting
and Guiding which were introduced to the country in 1912 and 1917
resoectively, were rejuvenated by the visit to Sri Lanka in 1921 of Lord
Baden Powell - the founder of the Boy Scout and Girl Guide movements -
and Lady Olave Baden-Powell, the World Chief Guide.
“With
over 47,000 girls and boys, the Girl Guide and the Boy Scout associations
have become the most popular youth movements in Sri Lanka,” says a
spokesperson of the Girl Guide Headquarters in Sri Lanka.
The
Sri
Lanka Scout Association (SLSA) with over 24,000 boy scouts have active
companies all over the country including Mulaitivu, Vavuniya, Jaffna and
other conflict areas.
“We
have already started ‘scouting’ in estate schools and international
schools,” a Scout Headquarters’ spokesperson said.
The
‘Boy Scout Core’ was started in Sri Lanka, 1912 with the only purpose
of ‘putting the boy's "spare time" to better use’ at Christ
Church Missionary School Matale (100km North East of Colombo) by an
English engineer, F.G. Stevens. Sri Lanka became a member of the World
Scout Movement with just twenty scouts.
In
1917, the Girl Gude movement was started at Girls’ High School, Kandy
under the guidance of Jennie Calverly the vice principal of the school. On
March 21, 1917, the very first Guide Company (1st Kandy) was
formed with the enrolment of 40 girls.
With
Ceylon’s independence in 1948, the movement needed to stand as an
independent member of the World
Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). The result was
the formation of ‘Ceylon Girl Guides Association’ on April 28, 1951,
as a ‘full member’ of the World Association.
The
Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association has formed forty Girl Guide Districts
with companies in special schools for the deaf and blind children. It has
reached most rural areas of the country and also the conflict areas
forming active companies in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Kankasanturai and Mannar.
“We
are in the process of introducing ‘Guiding’ to girls in the estate
sector, in refugee camps and to street children,” the Girl Guide
spokesperson added.
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Last Updated
Date: February 22, 2002 - 12.10 GMT. |
