It is our earnest effort to train Dhamma School students to practice Buddhist principles in addition to gain knowledge from books and other means, as we strongly believe in developing their moral values and personality are essential to lead a fruitful life.

In the endeavour of sharing thoughts of the Buddhist philosophy with the rest of the world by using the widespread medium of Internet and computers, and teaching/learning Buddhism in the English medium, have become necessities of modern Buddhist life. Therefore, it is imperative to use modern technology and teach/learn Buddhism in the English medium from early childhood of a Buddhist child in a country like Sri Lanka where Theravada Buddha Dhamma is prevalent.

With these intentions, the Buddhist Way Dhamma School commenced on the 28th May 2000 with the generous support given to the Venerable Girikola Nandana Thera, Principal of the school by a few well wishers who are still in the Board of Trustee of the School. The Board of Trustees is the governing board of the school. At the beginning there were about 20 students, which has been increased to 150 within an year of operation. There are nine resourceful teachers in the tutorial staff who possess diverse experience in training and research and they work voluntarily on Sundays. In our Dhamma School teaching of Dhamma is associated with Buddhist practices such as observance of eight precepts, arms giving and listening to Dhamma talks conducted in English. The students are given the opportunity of sharing what they spend on their birthdays with economically backward students who live in remote areas in Sri Lanka by giving them scholarships. This is named as “Happy Birthday Scholarship Program”. In addition, mind-sets of students are developed through dramatic expressions of Buddhist concepts and singing Buddhist devotional songs and by giving examples from Buddha’s teaching valuable to mould minds of students and thereby change their behavior. Teaching of Dhamma in English would broaden the horizon of our students arriving at outreach destinations of the world and by sharing and exchanging knowledge through the powerful medium of Internet though the resources available in the school is very limited. Launching a Web site of the Buddhist Way Dhamma School in December 2004 is the first step of a long journey of our school.

Teaching of Dhamma in English medium is a challenge at a time where textbooks are not readily available. To disseminate subject matter in English medium tremendous effort is taken by teachers by referring to a number of books available in English and also in Sinhala. But teaching in an easily absorptive manner to the minds of very small students is still found to be a difficult task. In order to meet this requirement, a coloring book with pictorial illustrations related to concepts taught in Mangala Sutta preached by Lord Buddha was prepared as the first attempt of a series of such products planned for the forthcoming years. Concepts depicted by effective pictures in this book are found to be interesting and easily assimilated by small students. To our knowledge, this is the first time in Sri Lanka, such a book is done by a Dhamma school.

Our students sit for the common examination conducted by the Young Men’s Buddhists’ Association (YMBA), Sri Lanka and excel in it by gaining distinction and credit passes. The appreciation of talents of our students, medals and certificates are distributed among deserving and talented students in order to appreciate their performance at the final examination conducted by our School. The certificates and medals are offered to students for best attendance, for best observing poses too. Opportunities are given to students to sing Buddhist devotional songs, perform drama and dances at the annual prize giving conducted by the school aiming at wholesome development of our students.

International Buddhist Students Association is an arm of the Buddhist Way Dhamma School by which our activities and benefits derived by our endeavor can be extended to the rest of the world.

May All Beings Well & Happy.