<div dir="ltr"><div style id="stcpDiv"><div class=""><div class=""><h2 class="">Official Language Policy implementation at snail’s pace </h2>
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Sandun Jayawardana </span>
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Sunday, 23 February 2014 02:12 </li></ul>
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<p>The pace of implementing the Government’s Official
Language Policy has been far from satisfactory, Minister of National
Languages and Social Integration Vasudewa Nanayakkara told The Nation.
Minister Nanayakkara admitted the Government had not gone speedily
enough when it came to ensuring language equality in the country.</p>
<p>He also acknowledged that not a single prosecution had so far been
conducted with regard to language violations. “This is a matter for the
Attorney-General’s Department and they have to advise us. However,
nothing has been done for the last two years,” he further stressed.</p>
<p>The Nation pointed out that the legal requirement of giving due
prominence to Sinhala and Tamil, the two official languages, and English
which is the link language, was still being ignored in many places, to
which he agreed. “If you look at Vavuniya, you have notices in all three
languages. However, as you come further down to somewhere like
Anuradhapura, the notices only appear in Sinhala. This is true, but the
task we have is also enormous and we have been trying very hard”.</p>
<p>He added restructuring the Official Languages Commission was being
given priority in implementing that language policy. “The commission is
currently housed in two or three cubicles. They just don’t have the
space to accommodate new staff. I have told them for over a year now to
look for premises that can accommodate them better, but this has still
not been done,” the minister revealed. The commission currently lacks a
full-time chairperson, while the post of director-general remains
vacant. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Official Languages has been
undertaking secretarial duties of the commission, which is not proper
given his position, according to the minister. Such shortcomings have
made speedy implementation of the language policy difficult and
Nanayakkara acknowledged he was disappointed at the pace of progress.</p>
<p>“However, we have a research officer currently looking into the
restructuring of the commission and we also hope to introduce amendments
to the Official Languages Commission Act so that the process can go
forward at a faster rate,” the minister said.</p></div></div> - See more
at:
<a href="http://www.nation.lk/edition/news-online/item/26244-official-language-policy-implementation-at-snail%E2%80%99s-pace.html#sthash.DBFJaHks.dpuf">http://www.nation.lk/edition/news-online/item/26244-official-language-policy-implementation-at-snail%E2%80%99s-pace.html#sthash.DBFJaHks.dpuf</a></div>
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