posted October 12, 2000 02:20 AM            

It was heartening to read the headline news in the Daily News of 30.9.2000 that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga had announced that the Government plans to teach all subjects in schools in the English medium beginning from next year and that under the first stage of this program, all subjects for GCE (AL) will be taught in the English medium.

However to implement this, it is imperative to amend the Constitution. Article 19 of the Constitution states, "The National Languages of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala and Tamil" and Article 21 (1) states that "A person shall be entitled to be educated through the medium of either of the National Languages:

Provided that the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to an institution of higher education where the medium of instruction is a language other than a National Language".

Hence, it is clear from these two articles that the government cannot introduce English medium in schools, unless relevant amendments are made to Article 19 and/or to Article 21(1) of the Constitution. However, this restriction of the use of a national language as a medium of instruction does not apply to universities as exceptions have been granted under Article 21 (1&2), and thus the universities have the liberty to impart instructions in any medium.

Another question one would like to ask is why "International Schools" are given the freedom to conduct their classes in the English medium? The "International Schools" for a strange reason are considered as commercial establishments as they are registered under the Companies Act. Besides this, Section 25 of the Assisted Schools and Training Colleges (Supplementary Provisions) Act No. 8 of 1961, states that "No person shall, on or after the date of commencement of this Act, establish any school for the education of persons who are between the age of five years and the age of fourteen years (both ages inclusive)".

Thus no new schools can be established by any individual or group; and the law as per Section 25 (3), only allows the establishment of schools which are solely for imparting religious instructions.

Thus, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has no authority over these 'International Schools' as they are governed by the Companies Act and also as they are not recognised by the Ministry as schools. On the other hand, if the Ministry tries to interfere with the administration of these 'schools' it will only end-up in legal battles.

The question of conducting public examinations like the GCE (OL) and (AL) in English does not arise as no statutory restrictions have been placed on the medium of examinations. Moreover, Article 22(5) of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, states that "A person shall be entitled to be examined through the medium of either Sinhala or Tamil or a language of his choice at any examination for the admission of persons to the Public Service, Judicial Service, Provincial Public Service, Local Government Service or any public institution, subject to the condition that he may be required to acquire a sufficient knowledge of Tamil or Sinhala, as the case may be, within a reasonable time after admission to such service or public institution where such knowledge is reasonably necessary for the discharge of his duties".

Thus, if one can sit the examinations conducted for recruitment to various Public Services as well as for other public examinations in any language, including English; one is really lost to understand why a constitutional restriction had to be placed in the use of English medium in schools.

Hence, for the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to legally bring back English medium in schools, the relevant amendments should be made to either Article 19 of the present Constitution so as to include English also a National Language, or amend Article 21 (1) to include English also as a medium of education in addition to the national languages.

Or else, if the President's draft constitution is approved in Parliament by a two-third majority, then there is no difficulty in introducing English medium in schools as the legal provisions for English medium education have been explicitly granted by the provisions in Articles 33 and 46.

Article 33 of the draft proposal states that "The National Languages of the Republic shall be Sinhala, Tamil and English"; and Article 46 states that "A person shall be entitled to be educated through the medium of either Sinhala or Tamil and if facilities are available, through the medium of English". This is a most welcome piece of legislation that will immensely benefit our younger generation not only in the field of education and future employment prospects, but also would mould the future generation to fit into the new global village.

For the last three decades or so, we have been adopting a pathetic education policy as regards the medium of instruction in schools, with minimal thought being given to the employability of the younger generation. From Grade One to GCE (AL), a child is taught in either Sinhala or Tamil and once selected to follow the courses in universities and other higher educational institutions, he or she is given the choice to follow in any of the three media or compelled to study only in the English medium, especially for those following prestigious courses like medicine, dentistry, veterinary science, engineering, architecture, quantity surveying etc.

Then the question arises as to why a child should study in the vernacular language from Grade One to GCE (AL) and then switchover to English medium in the university in one's own country? A student who has been educated up to the Advanced Level in one of the national languages and who has been admitted to follow a course in the university in English medium, has to work hard to learn the new subjects as well as the new language in which he is being taught.

Under the present system, this transitional phase of switching-over from one medium of instruction to another at the early stages of the university education is also an additional stress on the new undergraduate. Hence, an academically clever student in school may not a bright student in the university, merely because of this language difficulty.

This means that part from the academic workload, an additional burden is also imposed on the student, namely, due to that of the new medium of instruction. To what extent this will affect the intellectual development of the undergraduate besides the agony of long hours of studies he has to put in to pass his examinations and the sacrifice he has to make on his extra-curricular and social activities, all because of a change over to a new medium, needs to be investigated.

This has mainly resulted in the production of graduates with knowledge of the technical subjects concerned, but with poor skills in English to fit into the demanding managerial and administrative requirements of the local private sector and in the global job market.

In a democratic country, the parents should be given the right to select the medium of instruction for their children, either in the vernacular language or in the English medium, so as to satisfy their needs and aspirations, and the government should provide the necessary facilities. In addition to the proposed constitutional amendments, it is also imperative for the government to repeal Section 25 of the Assisted Schools and Training Colleges Act 8 of 1961, in order to allow the private sector to establish new schools and also to give due recognition to the existing "International schools" as they are really schools and not commercial factories.