[lg policy] Sri Lanka: English for official purposes recommended in 2010 report

[Harold Schiffman]

English for official purposes recommended in 2010 report  Expediting
implementation of Language policy  By Chandani Kirinde

  The Official Languages Commission (OLC) has recommended several
constitutional amendments be made to eliminate apparent contradictions and
ambiguities contained in Chapter IV of the Constitution headed as Language.

The Commission has recommended that Clause (18) of this Chapter should be
amended to read as “Sinhala and Tamil, the national languages should be the
official languages of Sri Lanka” and “that English may be used for official
purposes.”

At present Clause 18 (1) reads that the official language of Sri Lanka shall
be Sinhala and Clause 18 (2) that Tamil shall also be an official language
and Clause 18 (3) that English shall be the link language.

The aforesaid and other amendments to the Constitution as well as the
progress that has been made with regard to the implementation of the
Official Languages Policy (OLP) of the country are contained in the 2010
report of the OLC complied under the auspices of its former Chairman Raja
Collure and which was presented to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The difficulty of corresponding with Government institutions in the language
of their choice has been expressed as a major grievance particularly by the
Tamil speaking people in the North and East as well as in the estate sector
due to the lack of officials proficient in that language.

With the setting up of the Ministry of National Languages and Social
Integration in April this year, the OLC which functions under its purview
has adopted a five-fold policy to expedite the implementation of the
language policy.

N.Selvakkumaran, the new Chairman of the Commission said that the focus
would be on advising the Government on the language policy, creating
awareness, facilitating Government institutions to advance a tri-language
policy, review implementation and enforce the legal requirements on
language. “Steps must be taken to put place national education and
recruitment policies in line with the declared national language policy of
the country,” he said.

The Government has already gazetted the names of those in State institutions
who would be the Chief Official Languages Implementation Officer and these
include Secretaries to Ministries, Heads of Departments, Chief Secretaries
of Provincial Councils and Municipal Commissioners and Secretaries in local
government institutions.

The Chief Implementation Officers are required to have a sound knowledge of
the laws on the OLP and evolve a framework for the implementation and
supervision within their institution. The others amendments recommended are
to provide for the right to education in any of the three languages as well
as have the right to be instructed in any courses for students in higher
education institutions in either of the languages.

It is also recommended that members of elected bodies including Parliament
and Provincial Councils should be enabled to use English in their
deliberations while those who join the public service be required to attain
the required levels of proficiency in English within a reasonable period of
time to enhance the quality of their service.

The conversion of the OLC into an independent institution with braches in
the periphery too has been recommended while finances for the implementation
of the OLP are made available to the Commission.

The OLC has taken several steps in the past few years to implement the
policy including action to compel that street sign boards and place names be
displayed in all three languages along with destination boards on buses
while monitoring to ensure that public sector notices and advertisements are
made in all languages.

The OLC is also encouraging private sector institutions to take measures to
train their personnel in the use of both national languages. “There are
several private sector banks that have started their own programs in
language training. It is a very encouraging fact,” OLC Chairman
Selvakkumaran said.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/101031/News/nws_56.html
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