118th birth anniversary of Prof. Hardy

The 118th birth anniversary of Prof. Evan A. Hardy was commemorated on October 1. He was the founder of the Technical Training Institute, Ampara (Now known as "Hardy Advanced Technological Institute").

Prof. Evan A. Hardy arrived in Ceylon in 1955 as an expert in dry zone agriculture, provided by the FAO of the United Nations.

At a time then Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka) had begun to feel the need for agricultural development as an important aspect of her economic development, professor immediately identified the acute shortage of trained technical personnel to man the projects. As such in his efforts, he left an indelible mark in the soil of Mother Lanka by setting up a technical training institute at Ampara, now known as the Hardy Advanced Technological Institute to conduct two year residential courses in all engineering fields such as irrigation, soil science, agriculture, mechanical, civil, electrical and Surveying and Levelling not only for training of students from Ceylon, but also for the students of other South East Asian countries.

The foreign students who followed these courses so far from 1956 to about 1970s were from countries like Burma, Malaysia, North Borneo, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore .

In setting up the curriculum for all these courses Prof. Hardy made a special emphasis in introducing "On the job" training also, as he had a very clear vision, and a firm belief according to his philosophy.

Having gone through the Mill, these Engineering Graduates (Professor always addressed them as - My Engineering graduates) served firstly in the Gal-Oya Development Board, thereafter in other Engineering Organizations in Sri Lanka, and a fair number migrated to other countries to serve with their technical expertise.

This trend continued up to about 1990s and many of them who are presently working abroad have even agreed now to offer scholarships in the Engineering fields to the present Hardy Students, only on the recommendations of the Board of Management of the 'Hardy Centre' of Old Hardians Association.

In recognizing the services of our Professor, the Old Hardians Association has now taken steps, in changing the name of the 'Centre' from 'Hardy Centre', to "Professor Evan A. Hardy Centre" effective from October 5.

In this regard, it should be specially mentioned that a similar step has been taken by the Board of Governors at the instigation of the Saskatchewan Agricultural Graduates Association, Canada, to additionally name 'The Engineering Building of the University of Saskatchewan Canada' (Alma Mater of Professor Evan A. Hardy) as the "Hardy Laboratory for Agricultural Engineering" in memory of Professor who served as the "Head of the Department" from 1924 to 1951 and a plaque has been erected as Shown in the picture.