A BUDDHIST monk RE teacher who was convicted of threatening and abusive behaviour towards three women at a Glasgow yoga centre has been struck off.
Rewatha Kamburawala was removed from the teaching register by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) following the incidents at the Glasgow Mindfulness Centre.
While running meditation classes, the 50-year-old repeatedly touched one student on the body, pulled her towards him and placed her in a state of fear and alarm.
He uttered sexual remarks towards another student and also touched her on the body and placed her in a state of fear and alarm.
And he did the same to a third student whilst also inducing her to touch him on the body.
Kamburawala was convicted in 2018 at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2018 for the offences, which took place between April 2015 and March 2016.
He was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work.
However, Kamburawala, who was also a registered RE teacher, has since denied the allegations by the GTCS and said he “not unsuitable” to teach children.
The GTCS last night published documents stating that they have issued Kamburawala, from Sri Lanka, with a removal order.
In their report, the GTCS state: “The panel considered that this was misconduct with a level of seriousness fundamentally incompatible with being a teacher.
“There was no evidence of remediation.
“The teacher had not admitted the allegations in full but had resigned.
“There was no demonstration of insight or remorse to remediate the conduct and mitigate the risk of it happening again.
“There was no evidence in support of the risk of reoccurrence being unlikely.
“In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the Panel considered that there was in fact a high risk that the conduct might happen again.
“Over a period of a year there were various incidents.
“The teacher had not remedied the conduct and it was not remediable given his failure to admit the allegations.
“The panel also had regard to the fact that the allegations concerned sexual misconduct.
“For these reasons, the panel concluded that the teacher is currently unfit to teach.”
Kamburawala has been a monk for over 30 years and studied at the University of Peradeniya in Kandy and the University of Kelaniya in Colombo.
In 2009 Kamburawala was appointed as Chief Sangha Nayake for the U.K by The High Ambassador for World Interfaith Dialogue, Peace and Harmony.
He is the author of two books on Buddhism and Astral Phenomenon and A Mindful Journey from Birth to Death.
He had been running mindfulness meditation classes for local people in Glasgow for eight years before his conviction.
He then also stepped down from his positions as student chaplain at the University of Glasgow and the city’s Caledonian Uni.
