The Board was founded in 1950. Its work is with children and with the people who teach them: 4,621 children are in Sunday School across the Diocese, taught by 984 teachers. Since its 75th anniversary it has been working with their parents as well.
Seventy five years
The anniversary was kept on 30 May 2025 with a thanksgiving service at the Cathedral. Two hundred and sixty people came, through a day of heavy rain.The Board marked the year by going out to parents. Nineteen one day programmes covered all nine deaneries. Children worked on Be Strong and Courageous while their parents met separately on God's Way of Parenting, and 1,178 children and 911 teachers and parents took part. What the children said they needed from their parents was carried back to the parents, which was the point. World Vision supported the first two programmes.
A camp for the whole Galle deanery
At the request of the Archdeacon of Galle, the Ven. Sunil Shantha Gunatilleke, and the Area Dean, the Revd Dudley Jebamany, the clergy of the deanery decided together to bring every Sunday School child in the deanery under one roof. One hundred and forty two children came, with forty two adults: clergy, clergy wives, teachers and parents. Only the children of Matara missed it, because their confirmation fell on the same weekend.
Child protection
Two programmes run with the Justice, Reconciliation and Peace Desk, at Myllambawalli and Trincomalee, reached 90 children and 55 adults, and the same session ran at ten of the anniversary programmes. Children learn that they have the right to protect themselves, and what good and bad touch and good and bad relationships look like. Many parents said afterwards that they had heard the stories around them and had never thought to act on them in their own homes.
Marriage preparation
Pre-marital counselling on the fourth Saturday of every month, in Sinhala, Tamil and English. Eighteen couples came to nine sessions during the year. Registration in advance is required, and clergy are encouraged to send couples to it.A guide to marriage preparation, written with the Revd Niroshan De Mel, the Revd S. Balasundaram and the Ven. Chrisantha Mendis, is awaiting the Bishop's approval for publication.
The Grade 10 evaluation
An examination in Bible knowledge, and in how it is lived, for Grade 10 Sunday School children. Two hundred and twenty two children from 58 churches sat it this year, and every candidate receives a certificate signed by the Bishop of Colombo. The Board is frank that results have fallen compared with previous years, and that poor attendance at Sunday School is the most likely reason.
After Cyclone Ditwah
The Board cancelled its Christmas programme and gave the money, Rs. 70,030, to churches that needed it: dry rations through St Clement's, Puttalam and St Andrew's, Gampola, medicines in the Passara area, and clothing at Kochchikade.It also sent 480 children a file of eight pictures to colour and make things with, as psychosocial support after the storm. The files went out through clergy and social workers as an interfaith project, with funding from the Board of Social Responsibility. Some of the adults used them too.
Publications
A new confirmation course, with notes for leaders and an activity book for candidates, has gone to the Bishop for approval and is already being used on trial in parishes. A history of the Sunday Schools of the Diocese is being compiled from the records of individual churches.
Online
Three months of revision classes for children sitting the O/L Christianity paper, and three webinars on the syllabus. One hundred and eight videos released between November 2025 and March 2026, in all three languages and for two age groups. A calendar for Lent, one for Environment Month, and a monthly prayer calendar produced with the Prayer Ministry. Professor Harsha Aturupane led a session on artificial intelligence and education for children, in person and on Zoom.
Working with other boards
The Board works with the Justice, Reconciliation and Peace Desk on child protection, with the Prayer Ministry on the monthly prayer calendar and on Thy Kingdom Come, and with the Commission on Environment and Medical Ethics on Children's Day, World Environment Day and the Lenten Carbon Fast. For World Environment Day 2025, Sunday School children sent in 689 entries and teachers 35, and each received a certificate signed by the Bishop.
Chaired by the Revd Adrian Arron. Coordinator: Ms Sudeni Perera.