Piliyandala Central College, initially established in 1887 as Mampe Piyarathanasara Buddhist Mix School, is one of the first Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka. The school was founded by Rev. Mampe Saranapala Thero and later handed over to the Buddhist Theosophical Society. Due to increased student numbers, the society transferred the school to the government. In 1920, a public English medium school was established adjacent to the existing Sinhalese medium school. These two schools were combined in 1944 by C.W.W. Kannangara to form Piliyandala Central College, which was then upgraded to a Central College on March 4, 1944.