OLC proposes allowance to public servants for language competency
by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi
The Official Languages Commission (OLC) has proposed the introduction
of a sufficient "language allowance" to be paid to public servants who
achieve the required degree of competence in the Second Official
Language and the Link Language.
"The payments made at present as incentives are wholly inadequate to
induce interest in public servants to learn the second official
language," OLC Chairman Raja Collure told a conference yesterday.
The conference was held to brief the media and the donor agencies on
the OLC's recommendations on the implementation of the Official
Languages Policy at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.
He explained that the Official Language Policy in Chapter IV of the
Constitution as amended by the 13th and 16th amendments in their view,
is comprehensive enough to cover the present needs relating to the use
of the official languages in the administration field .
However, Collure noted that these appreciable provisions have not
been adequately implemented although eighteen and seventeen years
respectively elapsed since the adoption of 13th and 16th amendments
which are most relevant in this respect.
"Successive Governments have failed to take necessary steps for the
realisation of the objectives laid down in Chapter IV. This is the main
reason that compelled the present commission to come out with a set of
recommendations," he noted.
Other members of the commission Prof. Somaratne Balasooriya, Prof. S.
Thillainathan, Senior Lecturer N.M. Saifdeen and Secretary to the
Commission and Commissioner of Official Languages Senarath Gunasena were
also present.
Collure explained that the recommendations are divided into four
parts: "the first contains a statement of the law, an assessment of the
present state of implementation of the policy is made in the second part
while the third covers the problems encountered in the implementation.
The final part deals with the recommendations proper."
He stressed that an examination of the provisions of Chapter IV
reveals that the establishment of a bi-lingual administration throughout
the country is necessary for the Official Language Policy to be properly
and fully implemented.
"It is pertinent to note that very few citizens could benefit from
the provisions enabling communications in the English language or
translations being available in English.Therefore, much emphasis has to
be on the use of the two official languages in the administration of the
country."
Collure noted that speedy action needs to be taken to develop a
bilingual administration in the country as a whole beginning with the
Secretariat Divisions with a high percentage people speaking the second
official language (the term "second language" is used to denote Sinhala
for the Tamil speakers and Tamil for the Sinhala speakers).
Of the total number of public servants only 8.31 per cent are Tamil
speaking."The commission recommends that in order to overcome the dearth
of such public servants in different categories of the public service
necessary personnel proficient in the Tamil language should be recruited
without delay," added Collure.
The commission also recommends that training in the Link Language
should be targeted firstly to personnel in the public service whose
functions require proficiency in English.
The commission also proposes to create a separate institution for the
development of national languages similar to ones that exist in France
and several other countries. |