Bogoda Premaratne

Deshabandhu Bogoda Premaratne (1921-2013) was a Sri Lankan educator.

Bogoda Appuhamilage Premaratne, devoted his life to the cause of education of the youth in a changing post colonial society with admirable success. He joined the Department of Education in Sri Lanka and served in various capacities with increasing responsibilities first as a teacher, then as Principal of several secondary education schools and teacher training schools. He ended his civil service career as the Commissioner of Examinations.

Premaratne then served at the United States-Sri Lanka Foundation for Fulbright Scholarship as the lead in the selection committee from 1976 to 1988. Concurrently, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Educational Reforms Committee of Sri Lanka in 1980, whose Committee report was accepted and implemented subsequently.

At the request of Sri Lanka's President, he served as the Secretary of the Ministerial Committee for Education, Cultural and Social Services where he established the Research Unit for the Social Values at the National Institute of Education of Sri Lanka.

He died on 26th December, 2013. He was 92 at his death.[1]

Early Childhood

Premaratne was born in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) on 15 March 1921 and his elementary school education was in a rural setting. He attended Ananda College, a secondary school in Sri Lanka, where he developed an interest in pursuing a career as an educationist. He entered the Teacher Training School and trained as a teacher. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in London and his Masters in Education at Columbia University, in New York. He was the First Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) to receive the UNESCO award of Teachers Education Fellowship.

First Appointment

His first appoint in the late 1940s was at Kegalle Central. This school was set up as a model Nation School (Primary and Secondary) by the Government to serve as a template for other free educational institutes to be set up in the newly independent island nation. As a teacher trainer during the second world war, and years following, when Sri Lanka was gearing for its independence, he was involved with primary and secondary school curriculum development.

School Principal

He then took an appointment as principals at Passara Central College for 6 months, Hanwella Central College for 2 years, Giragama Training School Principal for 2 years. After this sequence of appointments with his Master's degree in hand, he became the Vice Principal at Royal College in 1959. He served in this capacity until 1966. In 1967 he was appointed the Principal of that institution, the position he held until the end of 1971. During his time the following took place; the opening of the Swimming Pool 1968, the revised version of the College song in Sinhala (1968), Reed house was inaugurated (1970).

Principal Premaratne was the first Buddhist and the first non-Old Royalist Ceylonese to be appointed Principal. Premaratne maintained the cherished traditions of the College. Royal was still the College that Royalists, past-knew it to be, a great school to be proud of, at the end of his period.

Commissioner of Examinations and later contributions as an Educationist in Sri Lanka

In 1972 he was appointed the Commissioner of Examinations and brought on the concept of standardization to address certain inequities in admission to the universities. He retired from government service in 1976 at the age 55 years.

He then served at the United States-Sri Lanka Foundation for Fulbright Scholarship selection from 1976 to 1988. He was appointed as the Chairman of the Educational Reforms Committee of Sri Lanka in 1980, and was responsible for the Committee Report which the Sri Lankan Government accepted and implemented subsequently. He retired from active service as an educationist in 1989.

Then on a request by the then President of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa, he was offered the post of Secretary of the Ministerial Committee for Education, Cultural and Social Services. In this capacity, he was able to establish a new ‘Research Unit for the Social Values’ at the National Institute of Education of Sri Lanka.

Deshabandu

President J R Jayawardena during his tenure proposed Bogoda Premaratne as Deshabandu (a National Honours of Sri Lanka, a civil honour awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka). He was duly awarded this honour in May 1989.

He had authored many books on Buddhism and continues to write on the subject. In addition to many authoritative books which he had written in Sinhala on Deeper Aspects of Buddhism, he had also authored a few books in English such as ‘Dialogues on Dhamma’, ‘Enlightenment is your Birth Right, Part 1 – Theory’ and ‘Enlightenment is your Birth Right, Part 2 – Practice’. Bogoda Premaratne could be referred to as a Scholar, a Researcher, a Meditator and a Preacher on Deeper Aspects of Buddhism. He is a very popular ‘Public Speaker on Buddhism’ on many a TV Channels and Radio Services in Sri Lanka. He was a founding member of the Sri Lanka Conference on Religion and Peace affiliated with the World Conference of Religion and Peace. He served as the Secretary-General of the Asian Conference on Religion and Peace for five years and continued to chair the National Chapter for many years.

Throughout his career he worked to broaden his understanding and practice of Buddhism. Currently he continues to teach those needing clarifications on the subject. His present efforts are directed as a Buddhist towards achieving final liberation.

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-27. Retrieved 2013-12-27.

External links


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