[lg policy] Sri Lanka: Trilingual Language Policy to make SL knowledge hub

[Harold Schiffman]

Trilingual Language Policy to make SL knowledge hub

Ishara JAYAWARDANE

Dr. Amal Gunasena is a Oriental scholar now residing in England. He
graduated from the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya in 1967 with an
Honours degree in Sinhala. Subsequently he obtained his B.Phil from
York University and Ph.D. from the London University. Presently he
serves as Senior Researcher and Senior Lecturer in Sri Lankan Culture
and Sinhala Language at the School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London. Daily News interviewed Dr. Gunasena to find out
his views on the relevance of government’s Trilingual Policy

Q: What was the language policy followed by the government under the
British rule?

A: Until 1948, the education policy was such that it was a one way
system promoting only English. The British rule came into full force
in 1815. The language policy was used to convert people into
Christianity and also to inculcate British values and morals. They did
not want to promote the educational institutions that existed in the
country.

Even Frederick North, the first British Governor, acknowledged that
there were flourishing Pirivenas – Buddhist educational institutions -
when the British occupied the island. But he openly declared that they
were useless as those institutions were not serving the British
interests. Colonel Colebrooke said: “The education provided by the
Buddhist Sangha in the monastic schools deserves little or no
attention.” As the British did not promote vernacular schools, all the
elite schools were Christian schools.

Even Anagarika Dharmapala went to S. Thomas’ College which was a
Christian school although he came from a prominent Buddhist family.
There weren’t any other prominent schools in Colombo.

Through the English medium, what they were teaching was all about
British. For administrative purposes, they wanted to create a small
class of learned people with British values and morals. The missionary
schools were intended to serve this purpose.

English was soon made compulsory in schools and it was considered a
prerequisite to obtain higher positions in the government. The academy
or the seminary in Colombo was created after amalgamating the three
existing Sinhala, Tamil, and English schools and later it was known as
the 'Colombo Academy' and later 'Royal College' of Colombo. Cardinal
James Cordiner was appointed the Head of the Academy. Every effort was
made to propagate the Christian faith and values throughout the school
curriculum. The number of English schools in the country increased
rapidly.

So the language policy was a one way system. We had a highly developed
education system.

Renowned scholars came from foreign countries to study Buddhism as
well as languages such as Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit and Tamil. Our
vernacular education suffered under the colonial rule due to the lack
of recognition and financial support.

The textbooks written in the Sinhala and Tamil languages were not
prescribed to be used in schools.

It should be noted however that the 'English Only' language policy and
religious discrimination created a lot of frustration in the society.

With the arrival of Colonel Olcott, an American theosophist, a number
of Buddhist schools were established.

At the same time, with the support from Hindu organizations such as
'Brahma Samaj' and 'Arya Samaj' several Hindu schools were founded.
The Ceylon Social reform League also played an active role in
demanding that Sinhala and Tamil be recognized as compulsory subjects
in the school curriculum.

In the State Council also there were leaders such as Sir Ponnambalam
Arunachalam, Kanagaratnam, Philip Gunawardene, and J.R. Jayewardene
who agitated for the recognition of the Sinhala and Tamil languages.

Q: Despite all the efforts to promote the English language under
British rule, only a very small percentage of the total population in
the country gained proficiency in English. Also the introduction of
the Free Education system necessitated a new language policy.
Therefore, it was natural that the governments during the
post-independence period had to adopt a new language policy promoting
vernacular languages. Where did we go wrong in formulating the new
language policy?

A: There was no crisis soon after independence.

The linguistic and cultural atmosphere prevailing at the time was
almost trilingual.

As far back as 1939, members of the State Council Phillip Gunawardena
and J.R. Jayewardene proposed to legalize the usage of Sinhala and
Tamil in the administration of justice and in the state administration
and the motion was passed with majority. In other words, there was a
general recognition of the need to adopt a bilingual policy.

At the same time there was no resistance or unhealthy national feeling
against learning English. On the other hand, we should recognize the
fact that since the granting of Universal Suffrage, political parties
were trying to exploit people’s emotions for political gains. They
tried to arouse the deep seated feelings of national, cultural and
language deprivation under the alien European rule for more than four
centuries. The Sinhala community constituted nearly 74 percent of the
population in this country and therefore, during the 1956 Election the
promises were given to make Sinhala the official language within 24
hours. The 'Sinhala Only' policy was a fundamental mistake we did.

The Tamil leaders were fighting with us against British imperialism..
Tamils have been living with us for many centuries. But the Tamil
language was not given its due place. The second mistake was that we
allowed the standard of English language to deteriorate in our
educational system. I think that is where we went wrong.

Take India and Pakistan where there were wars between communities on
issues over religion and language.

Until 1956 we were a very fortunate nation; no war was declared on the
basis of language. The 'Sinhala Only' policy brought about very
unfortunate consequences. We lacked vision in that respect.

Take for instance Switzerland. Romansch is spoken only by 1 percent of
the total population but it has been elevated to the status of other
major languages such as Italian, German, and French.

Q: What do you think of the subsequent attempts made by the government
to rectify this situation?

A: We tried to improve the situation later but those attempts were too
late and also not properly implemented.

With the 1978 Constitution, Tamil was recognized as a national
language but we had to wait till the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord of 1977
to recognize Tamil as an official language. Because of this delay, the
language issue became a part of the Tamil liberation movement which
finally led to the emergence of terrorism in this country. The other
issue was the problems of implementation.

The language policy was not effectively implemented with a clear
strategy. Take the status of the English language. The teaching of
English was confined mostly to urban areas. No appropriate action plan
had been designed to teach English in rural areas.

There were no teachers or training facilities available. That created
dissatisfaction and frustration among thousands of young people in
rural areas.

It created a wide gap between the English educated students and
Sinhala-educated students who were not proficient in English.

They were ready to learn English but the facilities were not there.
These are the problems which cannot be postponed any longer.

Q: How do you describe the language policy of the present government?

A: As you know, President Mahinda Rajapaksa was able to put an end to
the terrorist war which lasted for more than three decades because he
had the determination as well as a proper strategy to accomplish his
task. Even on the language issue he has a vision and a strategy. He
has advocated a 'tri-lingual policy.' The important thing to note is
that it is not an isolated policy but an integral part of his overall
strategy to transform Sri Lanka into a morally, economically and
globally successful country.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s vision is to adequately equip the whole
nation with two global literary skills - technology and English.
Therefore, language skills constitute an important aspect of
transforming this country into a knowledge hub in the Asian region.

For practical reasons, President Rajapaksa has clearly rejected the
language policy which created a havoc in this country. In his Mahinda
Chintanaya, he says: “How can we expect under a single official
language policy to breed good, self- reliant, upright, well informed
and public-spirited citizens in our country. The time has come for me
to always look forward but not to repeat on what happened in the past
to overcome our difficulties.”

This is no mere rhetoric. He has formulated a 10- year National plan.
This year 2012 has been declared the 'Tri lingual Year.' The President
is taking a personal interest in this trilingual policy.

English is an international medium of communication and everyone has
the right to learn English. Every child should have the opportunity to
learn English well. English is also a life skill. You can see how much
emphasis China, Japan and India are placing on English. Teachers have
been trained to teach English all over China. We are learning English
to be competitive in the world market. We need people to go to
meetings and put our case before world leaders.

The novelty of the President’s approach is that it has a local flavour
giving priority to local needs. According to our President’s
instructions, everything has to be done by our experts. In the
preparation of syllabuses, teaching material and training programmes,
the local context should be properly understood. We don’t have to
teach British English and our aim is not to create a class of people
who are going to imitate British English. That is not our concern.
While retaining and appreciating our values, we should be able to
learn a world language. We want to use English as a tool to access
knowledge and to equip ourselves in the task of building a proud
nation. That is the major difference in our President's language
programme. Even in Singapore now, they are trying to teach English in
a Singaporean way.

This approach has another advantage. Unlike in the past, it would not
exacerbate the inequality between the rich and poor. It will only
empower the masses with an access to English which is de facto lingua
Franca of international communication.

Q: How do you see the importance of the Tri-Lingual policy in the
context of promoting national integration and ethnic harmony?

A: If we know each others’ languages, it is easier to understand each
other and to appreciate commonalities and to respect differences. Then
we become attached to each other. It is through a language that you
can communicate and exchange ideas. A good quality of a human being is
to learn the language of the neighbour.

The President has directed to establish 'Language Centers of
Excellence' in all major cities. The Sister School Programme is also a
great idea that has been introduced. The purpose is to exchange
students between Sinhala and Tamil schools. Tamil and Muslim students
will get an opportunity to go to Sinhala schools and to learn Sinhala
whereas the Sinhala students will have access to Tamil schools to
study Tamil. The language policy means a lot in finding a long-lasting
solution to the ethic problem in the country.

Nobody expected the LTTE to be decisively defeated, but President
Mahinda Rajapksa was able to achieve that victory. Likewise, with his
determination and foresight, we hope that he will be able to achieve
full success in the implementation of his trilingual policy. It’s good
for the country.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/12/06/fea01.asp

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