Bandarawela famous as having been the camp in Ceylon of the Boer prisoners of war and some of the buildings erected for the temporary accommodation of the captives are now used in connection with the permanent camp health recuperation established here for the Navy , military and volunteers.

Politics

The town is ruled by an urban council headed by a mayor. The council is elected by popular vote and has 9 seats. There were 4,147 registered voters in the 2006 local authorities elections. The urban council has been governed by the United National Party one of the largest political parties in Sri Lanka.
Out side the urban area is governed by the "Pradeshiya" saba which is also similar to the urban council. The pradeshiya saba is elected by popular vote as well and it has 10 seats. In the 2006 local authorities election, 37,972 voters were registered for the election.

Heritage

The main heritage sites in and around Bandarawela are ancient Dhowa Buddhist rock temple, the Roman Catholic Church- St. Anthony's Church and Methodist church. Ancient dhowa rock temple was founded by the King Walagamba in the first century BC which is located 6 km away from the Bandarawela city. It has a 38 ft Buddha image sculptured from a rock and some paintings belonging to the Kandyan era, depicting various Jataka stories.

Geography and climate

During colonial times, the picturesque town of Bandarawela was once hailed as possessing one of the healthiest climates in the world, & nothing much has happened here to change that. Therein this was the most favourable climate in the island. Geographically, the Bandarawela area is hilly and surrounded by the large number of mountains in Uva and Central Province.

According to the local climatic zone classifications, Bandarawela is classified under Up Country Intermediate Zone (UCIZ) which is spread over the Badulla and Moneragala Districts. The elevation above the sea level at Bandarawela is 1300 m, the annual average rainfall is between 1100 and 1400 mm and the monthly average temperature are between 15 °C (in February) and 27 °C (in May and June). The Bandarawela area consists mainly at Red Yellow Podzolic soil which is strongly acidic and favorable for the tea plantation.

Religion

Bandarawela area has multi religious population. Buddhism and Hinduism constitute majority of the religious faith. There is also a minority of Islams and Catholics. Pushparama Buddhist temple, Sri Sivasubramania Swamy Kovil and Masjid Mohideen Muslim mosque are the main religious places situated in and around Bandarawela Urban area. There is also three catholic churches which has long historical background with colonial periods situated very close to the city.

Education

During World War II, many families moved to Bandarawela as leading schools in Colombo such as Royal College, St. Thomas' College and Visakha Vidyalaya, completely shifted to Bandarawela due to the fear caused by the Japanese bombs. This caused to improve the education background of the people in Bandarawela. It consists of many popular schools in the Badulla district with better facilities for primary and secondary education. Some of schools in the area include Bandarawela Central college, Visakha Vidyalaya, Little Flower Convent and St. Joseph college Bandarawela. These schools are governed by the central government of Sri Lanka. There are also two private schools which are popular in island wide. They are S. Thomas' College Bandarawela and S. Thomas' College,Guruthalawa.