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English Language teaching and mother tongue education

The President spelt out his objective of creating a bi-lingual society and even move on to a tri-lingual one. The objective once fulfilled would go a long way in creating an integrated Sri Lankan nation where the unique character of each separate ethnic group will be preserved while immensely enhancing their mutual interaction and cohesion.

In this respect teaching of English Language in schools becomes not only compulsory but also necessary. But how should one set about it? What should be the optimum relation between mother tongue education and English Language education? How could the teaching of both these languages help the student to acquire knowledge better and faster?

International language


Mother tongue education helped a larger mass of students to gain upward social mobility. File photo

The UNESCO in its objectives says that the best education suitable for the 21st Century is multilingual. That means the e knowledge of the mother tongue, of an international language and a local language which is not the mother tongue. In the case of Sri Lanka this would mean the knowledge of English as an international language, of the mother tongue and of Sinhala or Tamil as an additional local language as the case may be.

Before discussing the co-relation between mother tongue and English Language education it is necessary to examine certain myths concerning mother tongue education.

The first is the myth that indigenous languages are incapable of expressing modern concepts.

This is a colonial concept that claimed superiority of European languages over others. However, all human languages are equally able to express their speakers’ thoughts and can develop new terms and structures as needed. Leopold Senghor once illustrated this by translating Einstein’s Theory of Relativity into Wolof, a Senegalese language. (See Carole Benson: The importance of mother tongue based schooling for educational quality. UNESCO 2004)

Both Sinhala and Tamil languages have a rich history where advanced civilizations used them.

The architectural and other wonders of the hydraulic civilization of ancient Sri Lanka could not have been created without the ability to express scientific concepts in the local languages. A cursory glance at world history would show that the East had a higher knowledge of science and mathematics earlier than the West.

English has to be taught not because it is superior to the national languages, which is a myth, but because of its utility.

Many countries started using the mother tongue as a medium of instruction after independence from colonial rule.

Social mobility

They also continued to teach the language of the coloniser. It is a fact that mother tongue education helped a larger mass of students to gain upward social mobility and contribute better to the development of their countries.

More recently attempts were also made to teach children of indigenous minorities in many developing countries in their local dialects or languages. It is part of the process of democratising society and empowering the people.

In this respect it is worthwhile to look at several studies that dealt with various models of teaching the second language to native students and their relation to the teaching the language of the coloniser.

Dorthe Buhmann and Barbara Trudell did a case study of four countries - Mali, Papua New Guinea, Peru and the United States on mother tongue based bilingual education. In Mali, just as in Sri Lanka the medium of instruction in schools prior to independence was French, the language of the coloniser.

Experimental basis

In 1979, the Government of Mali decided to introduce the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in Grades 1 to 6 on an experimental basis. In 1987, a new approach called Convergent pedagogy (Pedagogie convergente) was introduced, again on an experimental basis. Under the new approach students begin primary education in the mother tongue and learn to read and write before they learn French. By the fifth or sixth grades, half the time they learn in the mother tongue and half the time in French.

Students in French only schools and Convergent pedagogy schools sit for the same primary school leaving examination. It was revealed that children in Pedagogy convergent schoold performed better than those in French only schools. While those in the former scored 68.57 percent students in the latter obtained only 52. 34 percent at the seventh grade entrance examination. (Data supplied by the Ministry of Education, Mali quoted by Buhmann and Trudell) Children in pedagogy convergent schools scored higher marks for Mathematics (52.80 and 57.60) at Grade 1 and 2 tests than those in French only schools (35.70 and 40.00).

Writing skills

In Papua New Guinea children follow mother tongue based education in which reading and writing skills are taught while English is taught as a second language. Children move on to English medium education beginning from Grade Three. It was found that three years is not sufficient to gain fluency in English for students from communities that do not speak English. Incidentally Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically divergent country with more than 430 languages. It uses all these languages in the formal education system.

Peru practises what is called a bilingual intercultrural education approach. Children learn the mother tongue during their early years of schooling and learn Spanish as a second language till it becomes the medium of instruction at a later stage.

A special characteristic of this approach is the introduction of elements from other cultures, especially indigenous ones into the curriculum.

Rural students

An evaluation carried out by Lopez and Super in the year 2000 showed an improvement in the overall academic performance, greater ability in solving mathematical problems, greater assurance in speaking Spanish, greater self-esteem among students, fewer disparities among boys and girls and between urban and rural students and more active participation of students in the learning process. (Lopez and Super: Intercultural Bilingual Education in Latin America: balance and Perspectives)

The situation in the United States is less relevant to Sri Lanka as there the objective is to assimilate the minority immigrant nationalities into national life. Overall it has been found that bilingual education gives academic achievements superior to those given by monolingual education systems. The standard of achievement in the foreign language in bilingual schools is equal to or greater than that of monolingual schools. Further bilingual education improves the mother tongue learning skills too.

Even financially bilingual education is more cost effective than monolingual education. However all these hold good only if there is adequate teacher training and study aids are made available. What more, Government policies and community response are also factors that are vital for the success in any project.

Sri Lanka could learn from international experience since it has already the political will to pursue bilingual education.


As we see it

When it comes to education all problems seem to be concentrated in the public sector. Is this the reality? Perhaps public and media attention is less focused on the private sector, even on other issues such as corruption and transparency.


Children should not be discriminated when being admitted to Year One classes. ANCL library photo

We cannot agree. The private sector is also duty bound to do a clean job of work. The corruption in the public sector is very often the result of private sector inducement. In the case of education the private sector is also bound by social responsibility. Education of children cannot be reduced to a business concern, though the reality may be so in many an instance.

The weaknesses in public sector education are exploited by the private sector to their advantage. For example when the Ministry of Education took upon its shoulders the task of admitting Year One children to all schools and made a mess of it with children waiting for admission past January many parents were forced to admit their children to fee levying private schools. Simultaneously there was a marked increase in admission fees. The trend continues though facilities provided are no longer commensurate with the fees levied. Classrooms are packed to capacity with over forty students in some instances. Nor is the quality of education guaranteed. Over the years these schools, including the so-called prestigious ones are practising a highly discriminatory policy in admitting children to Nursery or Year One classes.

In the selection process children with educated parents or those belonging to prestigious vocations are given preference over others whose parents are not so educated. Thus the children are discriminated for no fault of their own.


 Former President of India
Dr. Abdul Kalaam

The practice is based on a wrong premise, not substantiated by scientific research or data that children from poor families are less capable of achieving excellence in education. Had this practice been practised in the State sector we would not have most of the qualified academics, professionals and intellectuals.

Many famous personalities that made outstanding contributions to society have sprung from among the poor, both here and abroad. Dr. Abdul Kalaam who rose to eminence as India’s foremost nuclear and rocket scientist and later as President of India had his humble beginnings in the fishing community of Tiruvanathapuram in Tamil Nadu.

There are even instances of this unjust practice creeping into the State sector. It is sad to see the teacher community quietly acquiescing to or even assisting this practice.

Nor have the academia or the professionals raised a murmur of protest. Perhaps the practice guarantees them an advantage over their less fortunate citizens. No wonder since in the open market economy even conscience is a commodity that could be purchased for money.

The Guru


Expansion of education in Sri Lanka - Part II:

Higher education should cater to modern labour market

As a result, many developing nations began to change their existing methods of governing, international relations, planning and strategies of development. The education system also got adjusted in accordance with the highest requirement of the nations and the global market.

These rapid changes systematically began to take place in different countries. Some countries were badly affected and others got adjusted to the new trends. It is worth to note here, several leading Universities in European countries, changed their directions of education system, syllabuses and courses according to the


Education should ensure better job opportunities for the younger generation. File photo

demands of the global market.

Oriental Studies

For instance, many universities are even ready to close down their prestigious departments of Oriental Studies and Human Sciences, which brought the highest distinction to their nations in the past several centuries.

As a result, several new subjects were introduced to the universities in order to create better chances for the younger generation.

The courses are made in accordance with different levels of education categories to give access to employment opportunities. Among them polytechnic schools, technical colleges, adult and vocational training institutes, professional training academies were introduced by in addition to local universities. It’s inevitable that Sri Lanka cannot continue its same education system by creating thousands of Bachelors degrees on Arts every academic year, if there is no demand for such degrees in the job market.

According to the United Nations Development Program Report in 2006, Sri Lanka has achieved 92.3 percent literary rate, which is considered the highest in South East Asia. Despite such a high literary rate and free education up to the tertiary level, many young Sri Lankans find themselves unprepared for the challenges of the modern labour market.

As a result, many of them are unable to pass strict university entrance exams and even those who successfully complete their university education have failed in their professional carrier due to lack of professional skills and experience.

In order to achieve this, students shall be given at least six months of industrial training in an institution before completing their university education. This is one reason that many young people leave the country to find professional opportunities and economic security in a foreign land.

This practice leads to losing the labour force and it has badly affected many developing countries including Sri Lanka and some describe this situation as brain drain or culture of immigration to Western countries.

Even though Sri Lanka opened 19 State Universities, the intake is limited. As a result, students are compelled to find some private institutes or foreign affiliated private universities, which are not fully recognized. At the end, students passing out from such academic institutions fail to secure professional opportunities.

Unemployment rate

The youth unemployment rate in Sri Lanka is as high as many other countries in the world. During the stint at a University, students are not given an opportunity for practical training but only the theoretical knowledge which has little opportunity in the professional field. The Sri Lankan issue should be analyzed in several dimensions.

Poor skills but high theoretical knowledge they receive is holding them back in immediately getting involved with the existing work force. Because of this situation, employers prefer to offer job opportunities to youth who pass out from private institutes or foreign affiliated recognized Universities than local State universities.

Job seekers

Since professional skills are more countable in terms of work, if job seekers are not provided with the latest modern skills they will be left unemployed.

In addition, the poor knowledge of English or any other international language becomes a major barrier behind the youth unemployment problem. Today, in a globalized society, English has become an important factor in achieving a good professional opportunity not only in a foreign land but also at home.

Therefore, many Sri Lankan youth have failed to compete in the world market and they have little hope in building a bright future.

It is also worth to note that in Sri Lanka, as a custom the majority of youth who passed out from Universities wish that the Government has an obligation to create job opportunities for them. That is one of the reasons many youth are demanding the Government to offer them job opportunities.

Unemployed graduates

In such a situation, unemployed graduates unnecessarily lose many years to begin a carrier. In Western countries the labour market is opened to both the Government and private sector.

Therefore, Sri Lanka also must encourage the private sector to create more job opportunities, for that, the Government must play an important role by encouraging private entrepreneurs.

With regard to higher education in Sri Lanka, it is important to note that it is an extraordinary opportunity given to all citizens in the country to obtain higher education free of charge, as adopted by universal franchise of education in Ceylon in 1931.

Since then, several hundreds and thousands of citizens in Sri Lanka benefited from this golden opportunity to build their future and to become citizens of the global society. But unfortunately unrest and violence prevailing in Sri Lankan Universities disturb its progress.

Noble objectives

If student demands are for national interest, the Government must find out immediate solutions and if those are for petty political advantage, such people should not be given opportunity to degrade the noble objectives of our parents and grandparents who initiated such a golden opportunity for the interest of the entire nation.

According to the latest statistics, higher education has achieved considerable results in Sri Lanka being a developing nation.

It has done a lot and remains a lot to develop it especially in higher scientific research in science and technology and other areas of academic interest.

In a recent keynote speech on the occasion of launching the World Bank’s report on Sri Lanka Higher Education Sector in July 2009, Higher Education Minister Prof. Wiswa Warnapala very clearly underlined the achievements and challenges of higher education in Sri Lanka.

To be continued

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