Many people are born with different abilities. But most of them are specialize in only a single field. But the story flows in these papers is about a person who is a genius in many different subject fields.
Mainly he is now playing the role as the principal of National School Pannala; a leading school in Sri Lanka with about 3500 students.
When I entered the office, a man in his late fifties dressed in white welcomed me with a huge smile. He is chubby and of medium height. His round nose and the sharp eyes reflect his intelligence. His full lips are always decorated with a smile. The going grey hair and the small moustache show his identity. He usually looks very friendly. But go serious when administrating the system.
He is Mr. L. Dharmasena. This is his story…
A child called Lakamalage Dharmasena was born on 10th of September 1954 at Dambadeniya. Being the eldest brother of the family, he had to look after two younger brothers and also a younger sister. His parents were well known farmers in the village of Labbala. L.Punchi Banda; Dharmasena’s father was the bread winner of the family and he grew paddy and many other crops to fill these four hungry mouths.
Podi Nona; Dharmasena’s loving mother got a great effort to teach these young blossoms and she tried her level best to pave them the way to success.
Little Dharmasena went to Labbala Maha Vidyalaya to get the primary and secondary education. He was well known in the school for his inborn talents and he showed his ability of gardening in the school. Then he got bright results from the Ordinary Level examination and attended to Mayurapada Central College at Narammala.
Dharmasena chose the Bio-Science stream to do his A/L’s and he was one of the bright students in the class. In 1974 Dharmasena passed A/L and in 1975 he joined Sri Lanka Science & Industrial Studies Institute as a store keeper. He added lot of experiences to his life with it. Then he was appointed as a Science-Mathematics teacher to Gonulla Kanishta Vidyalaya.
In 1981 Mr.Dharmasena entered to Paththalagedara teachers’ training school to be trained as a Science-Mathematics teacher.
Mr.Dharmasena was not born with the silver spoon. So he had to teach in very remote rural areas such as Galgamuwa. He had to face for many agonies and difficulties. But he was clever enough to tolerate all those agonies.
In 1991 Mr.L. Dharmasena passed the aptitude test and appointed as the vice principal of National School Pannala. He worked there for six years and then had a promotion as the principal of Iriyagolla Maha Vidyalaya in 1997.
He did a great job as the principal of Iriyagolla M.V and in 2005 he was appointed as the principal of National School Pannala. Till present he is playing a great role to develop the infrastructure facilities of the school and he is paying a great attention on educating the younger generation too.
Not only for education, but also for extra-curricular activities Mr. Dharmasena pays his great attention. Due to this fact National School Pannala is widening its glamour all over the world in sports and other activities.
There is a woman behind every success man! Mr. Dharmasena got married in 1977 with Mrs. Pushpa Jayasooriya; a charming modest lady from Wallawa. She is working as a registrar and she plays a great role in his successful career.
In 1978 this couple gave life for Manjula Priyantha; their elder son. Now he is doing his career as an engineer in U.A.E. In 1983 they were gifted by another brilliant son. He is Dharshana Priyanga and now leading his career as an engineer as same as his brother.
Mr. L. Dharmasena is a person with different abilities. He was a skillful “Esraj” player in school. He entertained the school audience with his lovely seven chords. He has a vast sense on esthetic subjects. On the other hand he is fond of the Kandian dancing style and he loves the energized drum beats of it.
Mr. L. Dharmasena has given the priority of his life for the school. He usually comes to school early in the morning. Usually he is in school at 5 o’ clock in the morning and leaves the school when the moon appears in the sky! Even he is at the school in holidays. It is a common scene that the principal is repairing the needs of the students of the school with the help of parents!
Not only as a principal, Mr. L. Dharmasena plays a great role as a farmer too. His hobby is farming. He uses to encourage the students for farming and to be helpful for their parents.
He is a good Buddhist. Not only for the words is he following Buddhism as a philosophy. But he respects all the religions and sponsors for every religions and cultural events in the school.
Mr. L. Dharmasena is glimmering with his great leadership ability. He tells that he has taught the first lesson on leadership by his father. It is hard to define how he manages such big tasks in a successful manner.
He can understand every social background in the society and he is clever enough to move with all of those layers well.
Mr. L. Dharmasena appears as a free thinker. He always looks forward to learn new things and to gather new knowledge. His ideas are fresh and new. His extroverted suggestions attract more people around him.
After fifties many people only think about relaxation and they never think of modern technologies. But Mr. Dharmasena is a person who loves to be a part of global village and he has a good awareness on Information Technology. It is favorite field.
Mr. L. Dharmasena is now in his late fifties. He is ready to get retired from his career now. He told that he is looking eager to flow his future life line in a simple manner with his sons and his loving wife.
After being silent for a while Mr. Dharmasena awoke up his voice.”Dear son, be helpful for others.Don’t look for profits or benefits. It is the motto of my life. Get it as yours too.”
I came out from the office with the smell of his friendly smile and with a head full of ideas about a real “MAN” in present.
Yes…
He is a real “MAN”…
&
This is the story of that real “MAN”…
Haritha Thilakarathne
