History of Dharmadutha College
Dharmadutha College is one of the premier Sinhala Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka. The school was established in 1891 by the Parama Vingnganartha Buddhist society which was created by Colonel Hendry Steel Olcott.
During the British rule of Sri Lanka, English schools were established by Catholic missionaries. The aim was to implement an English educated generation suit for them and to carry out the office system conveniently.
In these English schools were taught not only the English language but also induced the Buddhist students to their religion. The Buddhist people were unhappy about this action. In this period (1880) ‘Colonel Henry Steel Olcott’ arrived to the country. The creator of schools such as Royal College & ST. Thomes College in Colombo, Trinty College, and Kingswood College in Kandy had been founded in this period. Badulla Uva College was founded as same.
After that Badulla St.Beeds College was established. At the end of the 18th century with the awakening of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, the educated Buddhists paid the attention to give English knowledge to the Buddhist children in the Buddhist environment. Therefore Buddhist schools were established all over the country as well as in Badulla. In 1880, the American ‘Cornel Henry Olcott’ was embraced Buddhism and joined with the Buddhist elite and established ‘Parama VIgngnanartha’ Buddhist society and created Colombo ‘Ananda College – Colombo 1886.11.01, Dharmaraja College – Kandy 1887.06.31, Maliyadeawa College – Kurunegala 1888.09.30, Dharmadutha College – Badulla 1891.08.21, Mahinda College – Gall 1892.03.01 through the society. During that period the ‘Dharmadutha Sangamaya’ were being founded all over the country and a representative of ‘Kaluthara Dharmadutha Sangamaya’.
‘Mudliar D.F Gunasekara’ was visited Badulla and joined with Buddhist elites and was founded the ‘Badulla Dharmadutha Society’. The first president of this society was ‘Muhandiram D.C Kothalawala and the secretary was ‘MR. W.M Godawela’ who worked as a translator in the Badulla court. After observing the danger by the Catholic Missionary Education for the children of Badulla area, one of a student ‘William Jayasinhe’ Who was studying in the Law college left the studies in 1886 and came to Badulla and founded the ‘Buddhist English High School’. This school was started in a building in front of ‘Sancy’ studio at Lower king’s street, Badulla. In the beginning, there were 6 students in this school. Then Mr. ‘William Jayasinghe’ also took the membership of the ‘Badulla Dharmadutha Sangamaya’ and handed over this educational institute founded by him in 1891. ‘Muhandiram D.C Kothalawala’ was assigned as the first manager of this institute and ‘Mr. William Jayasinhe’ was the headmaster. This school was registered as a government benefited School.
In 1984 since this registration, the headmaster should be a qualified teacher. Therefore’ Mr. William Jayasinha’ left the post and again entered to the law college to continue his education. Later ‘Mr. D.F Silva’ who was a qualified teacher was appointed as the headmaster. It is understood that there were 30 students in this school when registering as a government school. Due to increasing the number of students in the college new building was erected in the land belongs to ‘Mr. D.C Kothalawala’. For this purpose donations were received from ‘Mr. D.F Gunasekara’ and Buddhist donors in the area. Proposal of ‘Mr. H.R Gunawardana who served as a principal ( Since 1941 to 1949) of this school and old boys of the school, In 1923 changed the name of the school as ‘Dharmadutha Collage’ to memories the founders of the ‘Dhrmadutha Sangamaya’. ‘Mr. R.H Gunawardana’ (Kotiya Sir) was an old boy from this school and worked as a teacher in this school. After getting the training he had been assigned as the principal of this school.
Expanding the main hall from 70 ft to 101 ft, and erecting two rooms at the western side, erecting new two buildings, promoting the school from primary level to secondary level were the developments during his period by the assistance of old boys and commence of the area. Therefore it was a valuable period for Dharmadutha College. In 1960 the management of the school had been changed and the management was done by a director. ‘Mr. Gladwin Kothalawala’ is the last manager of this college.
The Minister of Education published order No: 375 on 1961 .12.14 to acquire the school to the government. From 1963.08.01 the college was under government control. At that time there were 900 students and 44 staff members. ‘Mr. D.L Jayasinhe’ who is an old boy of this college was the principal. He served as a teacher for a certain period and got the appointment as the principal. During the period of Mr. Jayasinghe as the principal, all of the buildings such as the principal’s office, library, and the main hall with a large stage(this was the largest stage in Badulla) was demolished, and erected a two-story building with 8 classrooms. (presently the building consists of the office).
The acquired schools were reorganized in 1964. As a result, the Tamil section was closed in this college and the Tamil students were sent to another school. The students who were studied in the science section of this college were entered to the Badulla Maha Vidyalaya. After that Dharmaduta College was considered as a Sinhala medium school and taught only art subjects. Classes were conducted up to the Advanced Level. At the same period, the science section was started again. A new science lab was erected for G.C.E O/L classes. Mr. D.L. Jayasinghe was attached to the monastery of education and Kernel Jayalath was appointed as the principal. During his period The G.C.E Advanced Level classes in the science section were started. Hereafter our principles Mr. S.Y.I.S. Wickramasinghe, Mr.A.M. Karunarathna, Mr. A.M. Jinadasa Atthanayake, Mr. P.A. Jayasundara, Mr. A.D.John, Mr. Chandra Ovitipana Jayathilaka, Mr. H.H. Gamini De Silva, Mr. M.M.W. De Silva did great services and developed infrastructure facilities in our college. Mr.H.M.Senerath Bandara is our present principal. In 2020 there were 2360 students were studied in this college and the staff members were 140.
