BYLAKUPPE, 21 Oct: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday said that it is through schools like the Sera Jey Secondary School in the Tibetan settlement here in Karnataka that “learned monks have been able to enlighten the world about the wisdom they gather in the monastery through the languages and scientific approach they learn in this school.”
Attending the silver jubilee celebration of the school’s affiliation with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Khandu said that, while the monasteries have preserved the ancient wisdom of Buddhism from the days of the Nalanda University, “it could not be revealed to the outside world in the right perspective because of the language barrier.”
“The institution, in fact, is the first of its kind, serving as a modern educational wing, catering to the younger monks of the Sera Jey Monastic University for Advanced Buddhist Studies.
“With unique tradition of imparting Buddhist education, blended with modern education, it has carved a niche for itself,” the CM said.
“I am sure that, in sync with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s preaching that we should be 21st century Buddhists with scientific temperament, the school will be producing a new breed of monks, who weigh Buddhist precepts befitting the requirement of our modern world,” Khandu said.
Addressing the students, Khandu reminded them of the Dalai Lama’s call to all Buddhists to be “21st century Buddhists with ability to scientifically analyse even the very teachings of Lord Buddha himself.”
“Another good thing about the school,” Khandu observed, “is that the educational qualification one acquires here is recognised all over India as it is affiliated to the CBSE.”
He expressed admiration for “the vision of the forerunners of the Sera Jey monastery, who dared and dreamt to open up such a school in a traditional Buddhist monastery, radically changing the approach to the monastic education of the monks.”
The Sera Jey Secondary School, run under the Sera Jey Monastic University, was recognised in 1995 by Karnataka’s education department, and has been affiliated to the CBSE since 1997.
It is the first-ever Tibetan monastic school to have received affiliation with the prestigious body of the Secondary School Education Board of India.
A well-qualified and dedicated team of 30 teachers and several non-teaching staffers are currently taking care of over 550 resident students on its roll, of which a good number consists of newly escaped children from Tibet.
Monks and novices from the Himalayan region, such as Ladakh, Sikkim, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh and Nepal, are also in good numbers in this school.
The abbot of Sera Jey Monastery, Rev Geshe Tashi Tsethar, the principal of the Sera Jey Secondary School, school management members, students, CBSE officials, and monks were present at the function.
National Minority Commission member Rinchen Lhamo also attended the celebration. (CM’s PR Cell)
