09th December 2022 13:06:11 Hours
The graduation ceremony of the Course No 16 of the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) at Sapugaskanda which qualifies Seven Sapper Officers to wear the ‘Passed Staff College (psc)’ badge got underway at evening hours on 08 December 2022, presided by the His Excellency the President Ranil Wickremasinghe, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces as the Chief Guest.
Major Manjula Hettiarachchi from the Corps of Engineers has secured First in Order of Merit in the Defence Services Command and Staff College Course 16. The graduates of this programme consisted of 127 Officers from the Army, Navy and Air Force and 21 Foreign Officers. In addition to the service personnel, the programme also consisted of Civilian Sector Employees and Foreign Students. Major Manjula Hettiarachchi excelled well in this programme and was able to achieve the first place and has brought pride to the Sapper Family.
The Golden Pen Award for the best thesis, the Golden Owl Award for the most outstanding performance of the Course No 16 was awarded to Major Manjula Hettiarachchi SLE of the Sri Lanka Engineers including Commandant honours. He is the very first Army Officer who has secured all three award together in DSCSC course history. It is a unique information that Major Hettiarachchi being a Sapper Officer was academically supervised by a Senior Sapper Officer Major General Lanka Amarapala who was identified and detailed by the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University as an Academic Supervisor to five other Officers including Major Manjula Hettiarachchi.
It is also noteworthy that Lieutenant Colonel Waruna Ponnamperuma a Sapper Officer was Major Manjula Hettiarachchi’s sponsor Directing Staff. This great achievement will be engraved in the annals of the Sapper History.
