Towards integration

'Racial harmony in schools' was the headline to a news item we carried in our inside pages yesterday. It goes on to say that primary and secondary schools are to replace separate Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim schools in the future.

Currently most schools, particularly in the rural areas, bear names such as Sinahla, Tamil or Muslim Vidyalaya denoting ethnic distinctions. This, at a time we are trying to remove all ethnic labels attached to almost everything in the process of integration. Having schools identified by ethnic labels is a negation of this exercise, schools being cradle in the formation of minds and impressions. The life of our future citizens are formed and moulded in the schools and it is the duty of the authorities that they assimilate the right ideas and impressions that would have a bearing on their adult lives. Therefore, this move to do away with ethnic labels for schools is a welcome one. It would create an atmosphere for the young to grow up without any ethnic hangovers or prejudices.

According to Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake there are 1,470 schools in the Central Province of which 900 are categorized Sinhala schools, 463 as Tamil schools and 107 Muslim schools. These would be transformed into primary and secondary schools in keeping with the new national policy. Speaking after declaring open a computer unit at the Siddhilebbe Vidyalaya in Kandy on Monday the Chief Minister said the Government had taken this decision to enable the country's younger generation to move forward with the modern developments of the world irrespective of petty differences.

What the CM said is not in dispute. Today, in an increasingly shrinking world and a globlized milieu where national borders are erased and communities have integrated breaching all barriers we too cannot afford to be left behind. The younger generation has to be conditioned to accept this reality and one way to do this is to inculcate in them the spirit of oneness. In such a scheme of things there can be no time for ethnic prejudices. Sri Lanka is now moving into a new era where we have laid down this ethnic baggage. It is also the constant refrain of the President that there will in future be no ethnic based separation of communities in Sri Lanka. It is therefore, gratifying to witness the schools giving the lead in this exercise to pull down ethnic barriers.

It is not said if there would be integration of students of the different ethnic groups to form a new schools set up or if the existing schools will remain as they are with their ethnic distinction but renamed, shorn of their ethnic identity.

Whichever it be the case this indeed is a welcome move at a time the Government is striving to breakdown all barriers between communities and when the country is engaged in an unifying process. This is more so with the new independence that has dawned ending decades of communal strife. Schools are the cradle in which the young develop certain attitudes and prejudices. It is therefore appropriate that this effort at ethnic harmony is being promoted at a very formative level so that the cohesion that would be built and developed would last into adulthood paving the way for a truly multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society.

There is a popular school of thought that reconciliation process should take root from the very bottom if it is to have the desired effect. This is so because impressions created in a formative age are bound to last. Therefore the new move could be considered an appropriate way to nurture young minds towards harmonious co-existence among different ethnic groups. It is such nurturing during the immediate post independence era that saw harmony between children of different ethnic groups who grew up to work in unity for the betterment of the country. It is time we hark back to those days and values which we lost in the melee of political upheaval.

Besides segregation of schools based on ethnicity too contributed to communal disharmony where the ethnicity came into sharp focus among students of the different communities. This was manifest in the frequent clashes among students even of the same school where there separate mediums of instruction. By contrast in classrooms where there was an ethnic mix students adopted a cosmopolitan view which nurtured ethnic harmony. Hence the oft cited co-existed that prevailed in the past where both Sinhalese and Tamils mixed freely in a spirit of bonhomie and camaraderie.

Besides the new move would greatly facilitate the current efforts at integration. Schools should never be identified by ethnic name boards to begin with. It tantamount to creating distinctions on ethnic lines prejudicing young minds. Hopefully the new move would provide the catalyst for the obliteration of all ethnic based structures, accelerating the unifying process.