Our Beginnings
Buddhist Fellowship (BF)has come a long way in providing Dhamma education and life-skill learning to the young.
Because we believe that our children benefit most in their developmental growth when seeds of Dhamma learning are planted at a young age, BF started the Rahula Sunday School for our members’ children aged 4 to 12 in the 1990’s.
Since 2013, Rahula Sunday School has been integrated into the BF Dhammaduta Youth Program and renamed BF Dhammaduta Junior (BF DDP Junior).
Why Dhammaduta?
Giving purpose to the name, Dhammaduta, meaning the messenger or ambassador of the Truth, the programme focuses on teaching Buddhist knowledge and nurturing leadership competencies in an age-appropriate and progressive manner.
Skills Learning & Character Building
Our children enjoy diversity of learning through activity-based modules and interaction with their peers under these age groups:
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4 to 6 (Nursery)
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7 to 9 (Lower Primary)
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10 to 12 (Upper Primary)
At BF DDP junior, we commit to helping our children understand the meaning of life and manage its challenges by anchoring their learning on:
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The life story of the Buddha
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4 Noble Truths
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Noble Eight-fold Path
Along with knowledge and practices, leadership values and competencies are inculcated in an integrated manner through suitable, engaging lesson processes, activities and routines (e.g. via reflective questioning techniques and co-operative learning approaches and classroom processes such as taking on voluntary tasks).
Experiential Learning
Where appropriate we build experiential learning opportunities such as outdoor excursions and interactions with social welfare organisations into our curriculum to enrich our children’s learning. Through an age-appropriate learning pathway using meditation, community involvement and other mindfulness and mental development practices (samadhi), we also aim to foster practices of ethics (sila) and problem solving through wisdom (panna) in their daily life, enabling them to be successful in their aspirations.
Complementing Mainstream Education
The mounting stress of mainstream education on our students cannot be underplayed. Through our DDP junior programme, we hope to balance an outcome-focused pedagogy with strong emphasis on the learning process, character and values building, stress management as well as developmental growth of the children. While our focus is on Dhamma education, the learning outcomes are intended to build strong mental and emotional character, enabling our children to live as happy, caring, positive, accomplished and successful individuals at home, in school and eventually at the workplace.
Children will be able to apply the wisdom of Budhha’s teaching in their daily lives, display resilience in times of challenges and share warmth and happiness through the fellowship with their friends and teachers. It is only when our children are able to internalize the Buddha’s teachings for themselves that they will be able to spread the joy and happiness of living in the Dhamma while functioning as successful positive members of society.
Learn More About the Programme
Come and observe a session or chat with our teachers. We welcome parents as well as prospective teachers to join us.
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Weekly Sunday Session.
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Time: 10.30am to 12.00pm.
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Venue: Level 3, Rocana Room at Buddhist Fellowship West, Yeo’s Building.
Our Volunteer Teachers
Our passionate DDP junior teachers are instrumental in making these learning opportunities possible. These are individuals who, while on their personal path of the Dhamma, commit their precious time to impart the Buddha’s teaching to our children each Sunday. We are also happy to share that through the children our teachers too have reaped the joy of fellowship and volunteerism.
To our parents
Without parents’ wisdom, their lovingkindness, compassion and personal cultivation, our children at BF DDP junior would not have this precious learning platform. We thank all parents who have supported this program by entrusting their children to walk through this journey with us and providing encouraging feedback so that everyone can benefit from the Buddha’s precious teachings and be an ambassador of the timeless wisdom. Let us all in our ways big or small, be a Dhammaduta and inspire our young to become Dhammadutas on their chosen path.