IT in never-never land

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

The students at Dharmadutha College would usually stop their education at the age of 14 or 15. The school being located in a remote agricultural village belonging to Suriyawewa AG division of the Hambanthota district, the students had been forced to help their fathers in farming rather than focus on their education. Information technology (IT) happened to be no more than a word that the people heard over their radios or picked up by virtue of their television sets or some newspaper.

This was so until the arrival of Ven Galagama Gnanananda Thera to the village’s new temple, the Dharmadutha Aashrama, who changed education of the young children at Dharmadutha College.

The temple is located adjacent to the school. The boys and girls in school uniforms as white as the temple’s Stupa run and play during their recess in school. What about their future? They leave school when they are in grade eight. How can the temple be of any assistance to improve their conditions? Thought Ven Gnananamda Thera.

Mother Nature has made life tough for farmers in the Suriyawawa village with extreme drought conditions. The farmers paid more attention to cultivating crops. They paid little or no attention to giving basic education to their children. The idea of IT was way off in ‘never-never land’ for them. But all this has now changed.

“Our children have been talking about using computers and internet time and time again. I and my wife often wondered what they meant when they talked about these things.” This is how Sunimal (49) , a villager explained how he felt when his children talked about computers and their use. There was not a computer in the village three years ago. As the farmers got busy reaping their seasonal crops, their children were getting more familiar with the temple. The children saw their first computer at the Dharmadutha Aaashrama. Gnanananda Thera had brought it with an agenda, to give them an opportunity to explore the world of IT. The second generation, always wiser than the former soon grasped its importance. The Thera arranged to start a computer training programme for them at the temple when the time was right.

Breakthrough

“The children needed to see the world beyond their village boundaries. The temple provided them the necessary footing to start off,” said Ven Gnanananda Thera. Dharmadutha Aashrama has produced twenty IT students since. Some of these students are currently following undergraduate IT courses at Peradeniya, Ruhuna and Colombo Universities. The temple funds their studies. More importantly, the children at Dharmadutha Vidyalaya do not want to give up their education at grade eight any more.

There are about 350 children studying at Dharmadutha College, of them 250 attend the temple’s Dhamma school to study Dhamma and computers at the same time. The temple had introduced scholarship programmes to fund their education. A few pious Sri Lankans living in Australia and UK , Mahinda Pathmasiri, Maya Manawamma, Jayanthi Balasuriya, Charitha Arachchige, Piyal Wijesiri, Shamal Wijesiri and Dulani Balasuriya fund the temple’s scholarships and computer training programs. Ven Gnanananda thera said, “The temple hires computer trainers to conduct the courses. I must say that they did not charge exorbitant sums from the temple but the only problem is when they stop coming we find it difficult to continue the process. However we have been able to successfully carry out programmes so far.”

The temple is in need of more computers. One of the Dayakas, Shamal Dayasiri is pleased with the success hitherto achieved by the temple using their funds. He and his brother have donated computers to the temple from Australia. Shamal was pleased with the temple’s activities to help the school children.

He was at the temple with two of his friends from Australia, John and Antenella. Glad at heart Shamal said, “it was good to see that students have made it to the universities with the temple’s scholarship programme. What more can you expect from a temple in a village like this?” he asked.

Shamal said that IT should not be made some sort of a monster to kids. It should be in the school curriculum like all the other subjects. He said that after talking to kids in the temple he was pleased with the situation, that the kids show so much interest in the subject which was not the case when he visited the temple four years ago.

One might think that it takes many monks to run the task of educating the children. But it takes only two monks including Chief Incumbent Gnanananda Thera. It is not easy for the temple to teach IT to 250 children at once. Nevertheless it has accepted the challenge. The Dhamma hall is used to accommodate the children. Each gets a minimum of Rs 1000 on a monthly basis to carry out their primary studies. Students at O-L and A-L classes receive more funds.

I asked Gnanannanda Thera whether those who had gone to universities for the furtherance of their studies return to the temple to help its junior students, he said, “The temple does not expect them to render such services. But they may do so voluntarily. Yes, they do come sometimes to help out.”

Protection

The temple offers protection of the Triple Gem even to city boys from Melbourne in addition to its community service. John who was present at the temple calls himself a city boy. He is a business magnate in the construction field.

His was fully focused on the good work of the temple until he was taken by the appearance of another Buddhist monk in the Dhana Shala. He examined the monk from what seemed to have been triggered by his Melbourne rugby league memories.

“He looks very healthy and fit. He could have joined a rugby team,” John spoke his mind out. He could have joined even a soccer team if he was not a monk. I wondered whether John had seen any Australian monks playing rugby where he came from. Soon the monk was informed about John’s words of admiration about his physique.

John was eager to know the answer, which had to be interpreted. “The venerable sir has done Karate before he had joined the community of monks. ” John needed no further explanation. The monk invited him for lunch.

John is not the only person who gets invited for a meal at the temple. The temple offers meals for students who observe five precepts on any given Poya day.

Apart from teaching IT, the temple also teaches its students the importance of living their lives according to Buddhist teachings.