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| Sunday, 17 October 2004 |
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Editorial |  |
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Please forward your comments to the
Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 11 2429239 / 2331181 Fax : 94 11 2429230 In defence of Swabasha At a time when politicians and policy planners are singing hosannas to the English language and erudite scholars are writing epitaphs in English for the Sinhala language, it may seem strange for an English newspaper to stand up in defence of Swabasha - Sinhala and Tamil. It is not unknown that Sinhala has been identified as a language threatened with extinction. What is tragic is that it has been accepted as a fait accompli and nothing is done to reverse the unfortunate trend. Even those who vow to fight to preserve the rights of the Sinhala people seem contended to have the race sans the language. If things go on as it is a time will again come when scholars will have to learn the Sinhala language in the English medium as it was during colonial time. In our opinion, it is too premature to predict the death of Sinhala. Tamil, they say will escape death due to its pre-eminence in Tamil Nadu. The Sinhala language has withstood many a challenge during its long history, the last being its suppression under colonial rule. It was the ordinary folk and the rural intelligentsia that preserved the Sinhala language then. The urban middle classes and their leaders were too happy to follow English customs and manners, speak the Master's language and imitate the Western dress. Even after gaining Independence students were fined for talking in Swabasha in school. It is the same class forces that would preserve Sinhala and Tamil languages even under the cultural onslaught of global capitalism. Two factors contributed significantly for the preservation and renewal of swabasha. They were the free education policy initiated by Dr. C.W.W. Kannangara and the cultural renaissance of 1956 which was aptly described as the "downfall of the Brahamin clan" by Martin Wickremesinghe. It is an irony of history that those who benefited from the cultural renaissance are also in the forefront in the campaign to relegate Swabasha to the backyard. It is unfortunate that our policy makers and politicians have failed to comprehend the position that English should take in our society in general and in our education system in particular. English is the closest international language to us on account of our colonial bondage. It is also the foremost language of commerce and communication in the age of globalization. Therefore, the use of English is indispensable for our society's development. Hence, the need for teaching and learning the English language. Thus, the significance of English cannot be overestimated. However, there need not be a fetishism of English. Even after a century and half under British subjugation and another half a century after gaining independence only about six percent of the people are fluent in the English language. It would be foolish to attempt to reach 100 percent literacy in the English language even in the future. To do so at break-neck speed is the height of stupidity. It is not only not desirable but also not necessary. To waste our meager resources on such a na‹ve exercise would be criminal. We say the proposal to change the medium of instruction in schools to English is both impractical and counter-productive. It is the universally recognized opinion of educationists the world over that the mother tongue is the best medium of instruction for children. It has been proved by UNESCO studies that children who master the mother tongue well also master foreign languages well. Giving priority to the teaching of English at the expense of Swabasha will result in a generation whose average knowledge will be far below even the present appalling levels. Even if one agrees with the proposal to change over to English there are no sufficient resources available at all. It is a wild and impractical dream of policy makers and politicians who have no inkling of ground realities. The result will be the upbringing of a new Brahamin clan, which the people overthrew in 1956. We do not say English should be discarded or relegated to the backwoods. It should be taught as a Second language. Its use in school should be encouraged and rewarded. The malady in our education system is not in the medium of instruction. It runs deeper. It is partly a malady of governance. Our investments on education as a percentage of the GDP are even below that of Bangladesh. There is no national education policy. Every new government tinkers with the education system according to the whims and fancies of politicians in power. There is enormous discrimination in allocation of even the meager resources available. The dominant political status quo with its class and urban bias discriminates against the village child and the urban poor child. It is no secret that employment prospects of school leavers from popular schools in the metropolis are far better than those of rural or peripheral school leavers, however bright they may be. There should be an attitudinal change among those wielding power, including the corporate sector. In a system where learning is by rote and instructions are spoon-fed there is no room for independent thought. The present education system does not promote creativity or assist innovation and entrepreneurship. Children are pushed into a rat race where cut-throatism, is hailed as a virtue. Group work is neither encouraged nor advocated. It is a sad reflection on our education system when we have to admit that it breeds meek and backward individuals who cannot face the challenges in society. |
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