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by C. R. Ekanayake, G.T.C. Maharagama Fifties Group

Much has been written and said about the achievements of late Dr. Dahanayake as a politician and a social reformer, but little has been said about his service to education and particularly the teaching profession. It is a well known fact that he began his illustrious career as a teacher.

In the last few decades, we have seen a number of teachers who with the experience gained with the association of people at grass-roots level ending up as politicians, making valuable contributions to development of the democratic institutions of the country. Dr. Dahanayake's name occupies a prominent place in the galaxy of stars belonging to this category of gifted persons.

The teaching profession afforded him an ideal venue for the expression of his views on social problems. He used the verbal skills he acquired as a teacher to the fullest in his career as a politician. His skill as an orator, not marked by 'fire and thunder', was instead marked by his ability to explain a problem in a lucid convincing manner to an audience. This skill he undoubtedly acquired as a teacher.

We teachers and lecturers who were in the Maharagama Training College in 1956, distinctly remember his visit to the college as the Minister of Education. Early one morning he appeared in the college premises unannounced and a watcher recognizing him offered to take him round.

He walked into the canteen and requested that he be given a cup of tea. Sipping his tea, he watched the students and staff arrive at their classes and sat in deep thought. Perhaps he was reflecting on his happy days when he was a student in the same training college when it was located at Thurstan Road.

The Principal and staff gathered to greet him and one request he made was that the work of the college should go on uninterrupted. Accompanied by the Principal he visited almost all buildings in the premises, not forgetting the women's hostel which was located in a part of the military barracks belonging to World War II.

At the request of the Principal he addressed the staff and students at a special assembly. Contrary to the expectations of all, his speech was not a rhetorical expounding of the current political trends in the country, but it, was a scholarly outspoken resume of how activity in a classroom was related to the sum total of the education process. Concluding his speech he referred to the sorry state of the rooms occupied by the women trainees.

He said that they were "hencoops" and making reference to an inscription "Sanda Komaliya" he found inscribed on the door of one room, he said that he admired their sense of tolerance and sense of humour.

This speech which was punctuated with anecdotes drawn from his own experiences held the audience spellbound. Later when retired to have a cup of tea in the Principal's office, the Minister was shown an entry made by the then Principal in a log book when he was a student in the Teachers College.

The entry said, "In spite of severe warnings the Dahanayake brothers continue to interfere with the administration of the minor staff. If this continues I will not hesitate to ask them to find accommodation outside the hostel'. He retorted that this was the era dominated by European bureaucratic administrators who had earned the displeasure of the students by the imposition of rules alien to our culture.

Referring to some of the rules imposed on them, he said that they were compelled to be in full attire at the dinner table and use fork and spoon. He considered these as part and parcel of the imperial outlook prevalent at that time.As a follow-up to his visit the student's council of the college met him regarding the difficulties confronted by the assisted school teachers who were then on no pay leave. He readily accepted the injustice meted to them and made order that all teacher trainees be on full pay leave during the entire period of training.

Thus he paved the way to the elimination of a serious anomaly that existed in the teaching profession.

The above instances referred to, clearly illustrate his simple unbridled and forthright approach to human problems. These qualities he carried to the very end of his illustrious and battle torn life as a social reformer.

We as a group of past students of the Govt. Training College of Maharagama, are proud to associate ourselves, in this centenary year of his birth with the rest of the country, in paying our respects to a great teacher and politician.

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