The Philatelic Bureau of the Department of Posts issued a new commemorative stamp in the denomination of Rs. 5.00 on June 17th, 2012 to commemorate the Centenary of the Ceylon School for the Deaf and Blind.
The school was founded by Miss Mary Chapman, of the Church of England Zennana Missionary Society. She visited Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in 1910 and realized that there were no educational opportunities for the deaf in this country. With the assistance of other prominent members of the community she set up an Appeal Fund Committee, with the Bishop of Colombo as the Chairman to raise funds to establish a school for both the deaf and blind, and raised Rs. 49,600 to set up the school. Miss Mary Chapman began her work in 1912 with four students in a rented bungalow in Dehiwela.
The Hon. Mr. A. R. de Soysa, Member of the Legislative Council donated the land at Ratmalana, and the school was built on this land, and completed in 1914, The adjacent property, approximately 4 acres in extent, was also donated to the Church of England by Mr. Abdul Gafoor in order to expand the work of the school.
It was after the 2nd World War in 1946 that the school was separated and two schools established, the School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind, under two principals.
Today, the Board of Trustees run three residential schools, two at Ratmalana, and the third, the Nuffield School for the Deaf and Blind at Kaithady, Jaffna, (established in 1956). All three schools care for just a little over six hundred sight and hearing impaired children, providing them education, vocational training, food, lodging, health care, and recreational facilities.
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