About St Michael’s

St. Michael’s College National School simply known as St. Michael’s College is a national school in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. Founded by French Jesuit missionary Ferdinand Bonnel in 1873 it was nationalized in 1961. History The school was founded in 1873 by Rev. Fr. Ferdinand Bonnel. Most private schools in Ceylon were taken over by the government in 1960 but SMC chose to remain private. The school struggled on thereafter but on 2 February 1970 the school was handed over to the government. French Jesuit missionaries founded the school in 1873. Later, it was taken over by American Jesuits. In 1960, most of the private schools in Ceylon were taken over by the government but SMC chose to remain private. Jesuits had to pay the wages of teachers and had to manage other expenses. Therefore, in the mid-70s, they decided to hand over the school to the government. The St. Michael's College is famous for basketball and has won several inner-school basketball championships. Their victories made the school popular and were dubbed as The Invincibles. Jesuit missionaries introduced basketball to Batticaloa, and installed the first basketball court within the school premises. There were several Jesuit priests who played basketball and were good at it. Fr. Hamilton, Fr. Ralph Riemen, SJ, Fr. Eugene John Hebert, SJ, and Fr. Harold J. Weber, SJ were among the best contributors.