Sunil Vijayapala Australia

Let us open the English debate to weigh out the pros and cons of this English myth and what better forum than this Lankaweb forum of elite Sri Lankans including expats to hammer out this irritating notion once and for all so that our educationists and the Ministers involved in Education get the message, of course an Education we never got right!.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  I sometimes wonder whether discussion in these forums serve as platforms to give a direction to our country or not or they rotten to eternity as softcopies sitting on Hard disks.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Recently a Minister criticized the Education Ministry as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country and thanks to our friend Susil who made a mess of it, according to my opinion, who had no conscience and played to the tune of English pushers to the detriment of majority.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  This is a very serious matter and apparently teachers in Government schools do well at their private tuition classes in most subjects after hours than do honest work during school hours. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For Susil the greatest thing he achieved as the education minister was to make some Central school students converse in English!ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  He may be dreaming that some day our Hamuduruwos will deliver Dhamma in English rather than the labourerƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s language Sinhala as one hypocritical doctor who lives in Melbourne puts it, who speaks apparently for Sinhala people!

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I sincerely believe English should be used as nothing but a tool to educate our younger generation and to be taught as a subject in schools and especially in universities.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  While we maintain a bilingual education in Sinhala and Tamil, if we teach English as only as a subject,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ including spoken English,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  studentsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ will be able to do their references onƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ any subject to enhance their knowledge.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  English need not be the medium of instruction.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For a person to be successful in England he/she needs to study in English and in France, French, in Italy, Italian, in China, Chinese, in believe it or not India, Hindi (and the list goes on and on) and in Sri Lanka, Sinhala NO WAY! ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Breaks applied.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Well fair enough we give equal status to Tamil language as they have their own grievances and let them follow their education in Tamil.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Now the Colombons (mostly English speaking Christians and Catholics) come into the scene and push another stream English adding to the other two, which will marginalize people who are not converse in EnglishƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  and eventually will get more recognition when facing interviews in companies run by Colombans.(one need not define this elite category of murderers of English as enough have being said about them in this forum and we should admit that we too were guilty and at one time English appreciating Pukka Sahibs!)

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Yours truly was educated in a bilingual school in Kandy, where Muslims, Tamils, Burghers, Malays followed subjects in English and the rest followed subjects in Sinhala.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  We were blessed with great English teachers and our college was not second to any school in the island as we slaughtered the opposition at English debates and did very well at O and A level exams. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The moment we the science students had to choose English as the medium of instruction at higher classes we were virtually bogged down.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The brilliance of students who followed subjects in their own mother tongue in latter years and excelled in obtaining distinctions in most subjects was apparent while we prior to 60s and 70s did not do too well at O an A levels, with only few exceptions.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Prof. Arthur Weerakoon of Vidyodaya University who was educated at Mount and later had his education in Malaysia, an absolute brilliant brain had the wisdom of having bilingual education (English and Sinhala).ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  We the English appreciating punks had a good laugh at our Sinhala lecturers who were often subject to humiliation and I was one of the worst culprits!ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Some of our batch mates sat for the Final exam in Sinhala and did very well proving the merit of education in ones mother tongue.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Medical College at one time had the service of that brilliant Prof. Nandadasa Kotagoda who did conduct lectures in Sinhala.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (I hope this info is correct) ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Currently there are lecturers and professors in our universities who strongly advocate the idea of teaching subjects in Sinhala and Tamil but a few do favour the medium as English.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If we truly analyse what Bandaranayake did with the swabasha card, it was not really to attack minorities, but to give a death knell to the so called English speaking elite in Sri Lanka as he realised the disparity between the rural folk and the Colombo and Kandy English educate people, with English Complex, was widening, with privileges in employment and so forth.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Being educated at Mount and a born Christian he knew the value of educating a person from lowest grades to higher classes and right up to the University.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  His strategy was to make rural folk in par with Colombons and to be at on equal footing when it comes to higher education and gainful employment, as both would face interviews in Sinhala or Tamil rather than an English complex creeping into the equation.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Alas now again the trend has reversed, thanks mostly to Susil, the former education Minister.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  While the Indians are brushing up their ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”wherer werer you I knakkeda, knakkade at the doorrƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ accent to gain employment in computer sweat shops called calling centers, our fools too want to follow them and whom do we select to guide us this turmoil of English dearth ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the INDIANS!ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Has the Sinhalaya stooped to his lowest ebb in his conscience.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  I am surprised that even Mahinda is endorsing this move and hopefully SB and Bandula will reverse this trend and be wise to stop all this English myth nonsense.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Of course those whoƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ can affordƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Private education let them do anything they wish but let us be wise and teach this generation and generations to come in our mother tongues.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We would create in a few years a society divided on English speaking and non English speaking or virtually end up losing our precious languages Sinhala and Tamil to an inconsistent stupid language of the Anglo Saxons, who needs a good flogging (next article) by the world community.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚