A Discussion on the preparation of the Teacher’s Manual for Tamil Language.
The Tamil language training course focusing on preaching Dhamma in Tamil was ceremoniously inaugurated by the Dharmavijaya Foundation on 5th March, 2025 at the Peliyagoda Vidyalankara Maha Pirivena affiliated with the Kelaniya Dharmavijaya Society for student monks studying in temples and pirivenas involved with Dharmavijaya Societies as well as in external pirivenas in the island. In parallel with the course, a preliminary discussion was held with Tamil language teacher consultants on 16th May, 2025 at the Ministry of Education with the participation of Mr. Dhammika Lalith, Assistant Director of the Pirivena Division, Shastrapati Rajakaya Pandita Venerable Radaliyadde Seelananda Thero, Professor Vajira Prabath Wijesinghe, a Tamil language scholar and a group of teachers in Pirivenas and teacher advisors. The Honorable Secretary, Mr. H. B. Premaratne and Mr. Sunil Chandrakumara participated in the event on behalf of the Dharmavijaya Foundation. All the teachers and lecturers present were engaged in a very lively discussion throughout the day to create a handbook on the theoretical and practical program required to build monks as independent Dharma speakers, giving priority to the spoken Tamil language, combining their experiences with the in-depth understanding of Tamil language of Professor Vajira Prabath Wijesinghe. Arrangements were made to prepare three handbooks, the first two of which were to develop the communication skills of the students so that they could handle the Tamil language independently at the end of the course. The third handbook was to be prepared with a focus on providing practical training using the relevant facts and special words used in conducting Dharma sermons. It was decided at this time to print these books and distribute them to all the Pirivena teaching staff in the island, and before that, to conduct a special workshop for all those teachers to introduce the new teaching method by referring to the manuals. Photos of the group including the monks participating in the discussion at the Pirivena Division of the Ministry of Education are shown below.
