Ensuring English Medium and responsibility of EASL

ENGLISH: I was no longer at the Ministry after the middle of 2002, and could do nothing much to ensure continuity with regard to the English medium programme. However, I still felt responsible for the component entrusted to the English Association of Sri Lanka (EASL), namely the production of materials.

EASL had put in charge of Nirmali Hettiarachchi, who had run the first materials production project commissioned by the British Council, and we worked together very well.

Despite the short time frame, we produced the first set of materials well before the end of 2001, and gave them to the Ministry for distribution to the schools opting to commence the Project in 2002.

Given Kodituwakku’s enthusiasm, and his swift publicising of the project in Colombo, the number of books required when the second tranche was produced rose from 4000 to 7000.

Queries

Kodituwakku, incidentally, had been astonished to find Royal College not among those initially opting for the programme, which was due to failure to publicise the initiative at Zonal level - as opposed for instance to the efforts of the Sri Jayewardenepura Zone and the project was more concerned with ensuring opportunities in rural areas as well.

Still, I was pleased when Ranil Wickremesinghe’s brother mentioned proudly that his son was among those selected for the English medium classes when Royal did adopt the programme.

Unfortunately Ranil, belonging unlike his younger brothers to a generation that had not suffered in their English knowledge as schoolboys from the enforcement of swabhasha, probably could not understand his sibling’s sense of satisfaction.

With the second tranche of materials I realised there would be difficulties about distribution, for after the retirement of Mr. Rajapaksa, the previous conscientious Commissioner of Educational Publications, that Division could not be relied on to get books to rural schools on time.

Initially therefore, I distributed through the monitoring component of the project, but when that too was discontinued I finally decided on couriering. This was facilitated by discounts given by a parent delighted when his own school joined the programme after Kodituwakku’s publicisation of it throughout Colombo.

Meanwhile, I had to deal with concerted opposition from the Ministry. This started with queries from a young lady in the internal audit, primed by those in the English Unit opposed to the programme, as she virtually admitted when I questioned her in what she had assumed would be a session in which she questioned me.

Unfortunately she had not looked at the documents, so her main grouse was that the translators had not followed the original texts literally, There was indeed one blunder, in that a product of the swabhasha system had used the term Primary Numbers for Prime Numbers.

Foolishly, assuming that this could not be a mistake, and that this was the new nomenclature in Sri Lanka, we had not changed this, but submitted the text as it was to EPD which had not objected either. However, the other points she made were soon dealt with.

In particular I pointed out that the agreement enjoined EASL to add information that would enhance the knowledge of students, and that was why we had mentioned river valley civilizations, and concepts of chronology and so on, which the young lady obviously thought evil impositions.

National Anthem

Her other main grouse was that the books did not include the National Anthem. This became a cause celebre, and was highlighted in newspapers as well, as though to imply that English medium was necessarily unpatriotic.

Ironically, all this was happening at the time the Wickremesinghe government was handing over on a platter to the LTTE various parts of the country, and the lives of Tamil agents of the Armed Forces.

Fortunately, I not only had the signatures approving the texts of the EPD officials who oversaw book production, but also a textbook recently produced by the NIE that did not include the National Anthem.

This did not prevent the claim later, when literal translations were substituted for the EASL books, that the main reason - as explained for instance to the boys of Royal College - was that the latter were unfit for schools because they did not include the National Anthem.

Despite the various documents delivered to the internal audit, the same queries came up again in the external audit, and the accountant handling the Project came home many months later to find answers to queries.

I was fond of him because earlier, when I was at the Ministry and had shown him various documents, he suddenly whispered that I should keep copies at home, since they were liable to disappear from the Ministry.

I took his advice, and was able therefore to give him all the information and documentation he required to deal with the queries. Needless to say, he had received no assistance at all from the English Unit, which was now in the process of denying that they had had anything to do with the English Medium programme.

Reimbursed

By this time I had refused to step into the Ministry. This was after Nirmali wrote to the Minister to say that the funds advanced to EASL were exhausted, and no further books would be produced unless previous expenditure was reimbursed.

It was also added that the diskettes of the Grade 6 material, required for the Ministry to produce books for the larger numbers opting for the programme in the following year, would not be handed over unless debts were settled.

Perhaps because Kodituwakku intervened to insist that the Ministry ensure the project continued, at a meeting chaired by the long suffering but dedicated adviser Mr. Medagama, it was agreed that the outstanding amount would be reimbursed. The cheque delivered, EASL continued with materials for Grade 7.

The diskettes for Grade 6 were handed over but towards the end of 2002 the Ministry claimed they could not be opened. Why no attempt had been made to open them earlier was not explained.

I was worried, but Nirmali realised EPD had tried them on old computers that did not have the capacity to open large files, which these were, given the vivid illustrations used.

They were advised to try better computers, which they did, to finally finish reprinting Grade 6 books by early 2003.

Actual distribution to schools participating in the project, three or four hundred by now, took much longer.

Fortunately, because EASL delivered the new Grade 7 books earlier, through the courier service, schools felt reassured that the programme would continue. Still, some schools - and parents - lost heart and numbers declined, which convinces me that, had at least that tiny part of the programme not been in EASL hands in 2003, English medium would have quietly died away.

Karunasena Kodituwakku would have been disappointed, but the government he served, in which policy was dictated from above, would have been pleased.