In 1999, His Holiness The Dalai Lama called on the then Director of the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives (LTWA), Achok Rinpoche, at Gyumed Tantric College, Hunsur, Karnataka, for a very important endeavor. In the main hall of Gyumed Monastery, in presence of all the abbots' different monasteries and Geshes and thousand of monks, His Holiness said he would like to introduce formal science education in all the “three seats” of Gelukpa university monasteries and asked LTWA to shoulder this responsibility.

a group of monks performing an experiment in one of the first science for monks workshops

LTWA's initial objective was to set up a team, who will translate various scientific materials into Tibetan, and at the same time, find out a workable timetable for the monks considering their monastery's obligation, so that they can participate in the science program.

Since its inception in 2000, Science Education Program has enjoyed the participation of many monks and Geshes (Buddhist equivalent of doctorate in philosophy), as well as a few prominent scientists from various universities from the west. Despite the challenges of finding qualified translators, limited funds, extremely small windows of opportunity, and the necessarily daunting but vital task of coordinating participants from several monasteries and busy teachers from halfway across the world, eight workshops have been successfully organized over the last seven years. Although the importance of these workshops cannot be underestimated, H.H the Dalai Lama's vision of a standardized science curriculum taught in Tibetan has made little progress during the same time. The reasons are many, including the lack of experienced scholars/teachers and translators, the lack of resources and teaching tools, and the absence of standardized and modernized scientific terms in the Tibetan language.

Therefore one of the major objectives of this program is to contribute and assist with the development and introduction of a standardized general science course in all the Tibetan monasteries in India. This includes the selection and translation of appropriate books, formulation of a proper curriculum, establishment of a feasible time-table, coordination and arrangement of Western scholars, and optimization of time and resources at disposal.

Now with the Emory University's collaboration and interest shown with this program, and creation of ETSI (Emory-Tibet Science initiative) we feel that the Science Education Program, as envisioned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, can be fully realized in the very near future. This will not only benefit the Tibetan monastic community or Tibetan society, but for the betterment of the entire humanity.