Strengthening national integration
 

After Mahinda Rajapaksa became President, all these sections - Constitutional Affairs, National Integration, Ethnic Affairs, Language are brought under one roof. Earlier they were under different ministries, or either under the President.

The subject of Language was under the Public Administration and for the first time it has been brought under the Constitutional Affairs by President Rajapaksa, because two third portions in the 13th Amendment remains unimplemented.

Amendment related to Tamil Language - it took 31 years for Tamil language to be made an official language. Although it has been signed and included in the Constitution it remained a statute in the Constitution, but it remained for 20 years without being implemented.

That is why I think that President must have thought to put the subject of Language under my Ministry. Before that, I was the Chairman of the Language Commission for 1 1/2 years. Because of that, I took some initiative and what I did first was take steps regarding national integration - we operate through language, culture, religion and education at various levels, at the level of students, youth, women and public servants at the moment.

Bilingualization of the public service

Minister DEW Gunasekera

The first thing I did was, I moved the Cabinet for a Cabinet Subcommittee to study the implementation of the language. Minister Sarath Amunugama, myself and Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, prepared a report and we recommended that this has to be studied in-depth and formed a Secretaries’ Committee. Namely Secretaries to the Finance Ministry, Constitutional Affairs Ministry and Public Administration Ministry and in the end, they submitted a report.

In the meantime the Official Language Commission put up a report to the President and I incorporated all the main recommendations and put up a Cabinet Paper and recommended the policy of “Bilingualization of the Public service” and from July 1, 2007, I have made Tamil language compulsory for the public servants - new recruits. That is Sinhala medium officers to study Tamil and Tamil medium officers to study Sinhala. Now this is in force.

With regard to those officers in service, I am unable to impose on them the new conditions. I have recommended to offer incentives to the old entrants. At that time, the incentive remained at Rs. 500 which was introduced by SWRD Bandaranaike, but now we have increased it to Rs. 25,000 a lump sum payment and an increment and they have to pass proficiency exams to be entitled to.

You know I have to spend about one year to prepare the ground. Right from the beginning I knew it as a big challenge that was why previous Presidents and Prime Ministers failed to implement the language conditions.

Having understood the magnititude of the problem, I approached it with caution and persuaded my Cabinet colleagues, then the Parliamentary Group, finally I have to persuade the Opposition Groups. In the end there was some opposition by the JVP and then the JHU, finally all came around and I reached a consensus. Only after that we introduced the Bilingualization Policy.

The implementation of it is in the Constitution and there was no necessity for a separate Parliamentary Act. We implement putting out directives and Circulars. I am dealing with the public servants at the moment.

At that time you know there were only 600 policemen out of 65,000 who knew Tamil language in the Police Force of the country and now we have managed to bring it about by 5,000.

Q: What about the Army, Navy and Air Force?

A: As they are all in the battlefield we encounter difficulties in implementing it. But with the Police we are able to do it and now on our request, Police are released for six months to study Tamil or Sinhala languages. And it is very successful. Out of all the Departments, the Police Department gave us the fullest cooperation in implementing the language directives.

Even when recruiting Police officials , when they teach other law enforcement subjects, they also teach either Tamil or Sinhala language. We are conducting language classes in every Ministry and in every Government Department for them to sit the proficiency examination.

For the first time in 2008, we had two proficiency examinations, in March and in September. In those exams 7,700 Sinhalese public servants sat the Tamil language proficiency examination, and 1,700 Tamil officers including from North and East sat the Sinhala language proficiency examination.

I am making arrangements to conduct two-day workshops for Ministry Secretaries and also secretaries in the Presidential Secretariat to change their attitude. Later Additional Secretaries and Heads of Departments will also be included.

I am in consultation with the Higher Education authorities to teach languages to university undergraduates. I had a breakthrough with the Colombo University. About 700 undergraduates participated in the Tamil language classes launched today.

The University Vice Chancellor and all the professors were there. This is the program regarding national integration and we launched a course for spoken Tamil. Tamils and Sinhalese are compartmentalized and there is no way for the students to mix up. That is why we started the spoken language class and later we will teach them grammar and writing.

Q: I need to have a clarification. Earlier if the Tamil officers did not pass their proficiency examination, there was no promotion, no salary increase and no confirmation in their posts. Does that condition still prevails?

A: It is still there. Even in the case of the Sinhala public servants if they don’t pass the proficiency the Government will not confirm them in their positions. These conditions are applied even to minor grades - peons and downwards. For them, we insist on the conversational level and not a written test.

Teaching of languages to willing civilians

Q: I wish to tell you that I live in Sweden and foreigners have to study Swedish language as a foreign language. Everyone has to study if they want to obtain employment. Similarly why can’t your Ministry introduce a school or an institution to teach Tamil and Sinhala languages to begin with provincial capitals followed by district capitals?

A: We have already introduced Tamil and Sinhala languages in schools.

Q: That is for schoolchildren. But my suggestion is for anyone, even for the elderly people to study any one of the languages.

A: What we have to do is to launch a multi-media scheme through the Radio and TV.

Q: What about your Ministry taking over the teaching of languages in the provinces and there are only nine provinces and initially you may have to start only nine schools or institutes?

A: I have taken up a big task to teach languages to one million public servants. This is a very big responsibility.

Q: Teaching languages to public servants, is undoubtedly a challenging responsibility, but we understand there are thousands of willing civilians interested in the language study. I think this subject could come under the National Integration Scheme?

A: What you say is correct. My other immediate problem is that nearly 25 per cent of the Tamil speaking people are unable to transact with the Government. This is my second immediate problem. When you send a letter in Tamil and you get the reply in Sinhala. Therefore, I am giving highest priority to this problem.

In the meantime, I have made a proposal to that effect and it has gone to the UNDP through the Foreign Ministry. That is to teach language to the ordinary people. The main and important thing is we have managed to create the right environment for teaching of the languages. My problem is lack of funds.

Q: I think there are many countries and institutions in the world that would lend assistance in the form of funds and also will provide the know-how of teaching languages. They would understand if we can teach the languages to the public, our ethnic conflict would be brought to a grinding halt.

A: Furthermore, through an Act of Parliament we have started an institute for language training. This is a residential one in Agalawatte and it is to train language trainers, translators and interpreters. This is called the Institute of Language Education Training.

There is a demand for teachers to teach languages. Principals are asking for trained teachers to teach languages. Even parents show a keen interest in their children learning languages because they know that in the future, without passing language examinations their children will not be able to join the public service.

There is a great demand for language teachers. But I don’t have enough teachers. We have sent about 3,500 teachers to the Upcountry where the literacy rate is low and we have to enhance their educational capability.

Due to the war, yet the country is not in a mood for national integration. But, I am sure once the war is stopped, we will be gearing up in double speed with our national integration programs. I think the Tamil people must feel that they are part of this country and they are not second class citizens.

(Courtesy: Asian Tribune)