Education, discipline and poverty

Text of the speech by Prof Dayananda Somasundara at the felicitation ceremony held to appreciate 40 years service to the education field by him at Sabaragamuwa University

What is education? Education is anything that develops mentality, character and physical skills. Education is a continuous process. It is the communication of knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another. The word education evolves from the Latin word Educare-Educere, which means bringing out skills from a person. This is what is expected from education.

In our schools most of the mottos symbolise the value of education. Vidya Dadathi Vinayang knowledge creates discipline. Vijja Uppathathan Setta - From all things born, knowledge or education is the greatest. Naththa Panna Sama Abaa - Nothing is equal to the glow of wisdom are some of the mottos we are familiar with, Education is invaluable. Today, all of you are gathered here, as you were able to make use of education for the betterment of your life.

Value of education

President Barak Obama’s statement on education, in his Easter Speech 2010 is indeed important to all of us. He said, “Education is valuable. We also know that ultimately, education is about something more, something greater.

It is about the ability that lies within each of us to rise above any barrier, no matter how high; to pursue any dream, no matter how big. If our dreams came true and our hopes fulfilled that it because of our education.” Education is the key to my success. I was born in a rural village near the Sinharaja forest.

At some times our village was attacked by wild elephants at night. But it was a beautiful village. Since my father was educated to a certain level he always knew the value of education. In my village there were children who didn’t go to school. There were a lot of children who left school after primary classes.

My father’s understanding about the importance of education was one of the reasons, sometimes the basic reason for my success in education.

When I was only five years old, I walked three miles to my primary school. Even with great difficulty I went to school simply because my parents forced me to do so. There were days when I bluffed going to school.

I was admitted to a new school as soon as my father came to know of this problem. At this school my desire to go to school and the interest to study grew day by day and I was able to pursue my studies well. Again, I had to join my first school Kalawana Senior School at Grade three.

Scholarship exam

The dedication and the love of my teachers helped me to do well and I was lucky to pass the Fifth Standard Government Scholarship exam in 1957.

During that time only children from families below a certain income level got the opportunity to sit for the scholarship exam. My father’s income at that time was not up to the level prescribed by the government. Therefore, I am happy that I was not born to a rich family.

At that time, it was compulsory to enter the nearest central school if you pass the scholarship exam.

There was Central School in each electorate. To me, the nearest central school was Karawita Central College. I entered that school and later joined the Ratnapura Sivali Central College to study in GCE Advanced Level.

Right to education

Everyone has a right to get educated. This right was adopted with the introduction of free education in 1938. Right to education was adopted in European countries during 1966. In that aspect, Sri Lanka was one of the pioneers to adopt free education. We should be grateful to Dr C W W Kannangara, the Education Minister at that time, for introducing free education system in Sri Lanka. The Central school system was also a concept of Dr Kannangara.

Dr C W W Kannangara had a dream similar to what Martin Luther King had. The famous speech of Martin Luther King, the Black Leader of United States titled ‘I have a dream’. This was a 17 minute speech made on racial discrimination. What is this dream? ‘The sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.’ Though he was murdered by a white man, his dream became true.

Barak Obama who has a black origin became the first black President in United States. Similarly, Dr Kannangara had a dream that rural poor children will sit with urban rich children at one table as brothers. One day they will compete with urban elite’s children in education and employment. Though he was defeated at the next general election, his dream has become true today.

During that time lot of village children learnt English at Central Schools. I am stressing on Central Schools system because I believe that is the most appropriate education system for Sri Lanka. Those days, Central Schools had only from Grade six. Talented students who passed the Grade Five Scholarship Examination or entrance examination got the opportunity to study at Central Schools. Until the Swabasha medium (mother tongue) was introduced as the medium of education, Central School classes were conducted in English. This was instrumental in getting jobs for the students from villages.

Swabasha medium

I am not against the Swabasha medium or Sinhala being the national language, but both these policies were implemented to satisfy political agendas and not for the welfare of the country’s education or the economy. The students from the village, be it Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim, all were denied of learning English because of this policy. After that English became a language of the well to do.

During this time, in universities, English was called Kaduwa (sword) since ignorance of English language could cut you out from the society. We can pronounce any language in the world. Why don’t we take that ability out? Our students have the capability to learn the language but why aren’t we providing them sufficient facilities to study?

After the medium of instructions was changed a lot of village students in Central Schools lost the opportunity to study in the English medium. As a result, there was a drastic decline in scholars of English while the young educated in the villages had to face a lot of problems after studying in indigenous languages. But some managed to succeed in life by learning English on their own.

Educational reforms

With the mother tongue concept, today parents have to enroll their children in private tuition classes or International Schools in order to teach them English. International Schools have today expanded to the village level too. But only the privileged class that can afford to can benefit form it. However, I am happy that these schools are established in villages too. But this will not make English education a public facility that anyone can acquire. But something is better than nothing.

During the past years, with the educational reforms, the central school system died away. Schools’ name boards were changed from time to time, Maha Vidyala, Madya Maha Vidyalaya, Cluster Schools, National Schools etc. Though the name boards changed no positive change was visible.

Our children are being taught English from the primary classes. But how many of these children who leave schools after 10 to 12 years can speak English fluently? Is it a fault of our teachers or is it the fault of the education system? Why aren’t the authorities concerned on this issue?

Not only when Sir Lankans go to China, Japan, Russia or any other foreign country they learn that foreign language within six to 12 months but also they manage to write a thesis in English and obtain their Masters of PhDs. Japanese volunteers and teachers who come to Sri Lanka for voluntary work or to teach Japanese learn Sinhalese within three to six months. There is something wrong with our way of teaching English. Our education authorities should find a solution for this. This will be the only way we can take village children to higher levels in the society.

I suggest that we should go back to Dr Kannangara’s Central School system and establish a good Central School in each Secretarial Division with all necessary facilities. Setting up students’ hostels in these schools and enrolling the students who pass the scholarship or entrance exam and the outstanding students of the other areas would upgrade the system. Let the subject knowledge be given with a good education in English. These schools can limit their classes from Grade six upwards. This will enable the talented students of the villages to get a better education. The rush for popular schools may be minimized with this system.

English medium

Some countries, even after colonization, maintained English as their medium of education. Some of them retained English for education even though national languages became the State language. This helped the students of these countries to secure local and international jobs easily.

There was a very high level of English in Sri Lanka and as result we had a good civil service in Sri Lanka. There was a Sri Lankan professor in the University I studied in Australia. Australian Professors came to him to get his editorial assistance. In Nigeria I met a scholar who studied from Sri Lankan teachers during 1970-1980. They highly appreciate those Sri Lankan teachers for their good teaching qualities. Presently a person who holds high ranks of professions still remembers the days they learnt from Sri Lankan teachers.

Sri Lankan professors had worked in universities in Nigeria. Upto today Nigerians still appreciate their service. When I visited Singapore I saw that there is a street called ‘Ceylon Street’. I asked them why they call it the Ceylon Street. They told me that during 1950s and 1960s engineers and technicians where brought from Sri Lanka to build roads and for other construction purposes.

Apart from this, Sri Lankan teachers and clerks had worked there. Most of them later settled in this street. That was the reason behind calling this street ‘Ceylon Street’. These Sri Lankans were able to find good jobs as a result of their convertibility in English. Today we send unskilled workers to Singapore and Middle East countries. In the past, Singaporeans worked under Sri Lankans.

Today unskilled workers from Sri Lanka work under them. We indeed respect these employees’ service and the foreign exchange they earn for the country. But who created this upheaval? Isn’t it the failure of our education system and the country’s politics? This provides evidence for the negative impact of the downfall of the English education.

External courses

If English education was not ruined over the late years we would have been able to create Sri Lankans capable enough to teach English to White people. I had an understanding about the deficiency of English education in youth. At the beginning of the Sabaragamuwa Affiliated University College, when I was given the option to choose medium of instructions I had chosen English medium.

Some Affiliated Universities decided to conduct courses in Sinhala and some in Tamil. I introduced external course in English for the students in the area. I feel that I fulfilled my duty to the children of the village by uplifting their English language skills. The degree holders of this University today can compete with any degree holder from any other university in Sri Lanka. In some cases they are ahead of certain degree holders in other universities.

Today’s world is developed with knowledge, economy and information technology. Due to the use of computers and Internet, English has become an essential skill. I do not expect anyone to become a slave to English or English to overpower us.

We should not make English our master but our servant. We can make use of it. Our people have a good capacity to absorb anything. Therefore, showing them the path would be enough. Just as Malani Bulathsinghala sings in her song if you go to a betting booth (race bookie) you will find people with no education reading the race sheets. They can read the names of the horses and the names of the jockeys. They mange to write the names of the horses in proper English. I sometimes wonder how well they would do if they were properly taught English.

Recently the government has set up English medium classes in Sinhala schools to overcome the deficiency of knowledge in English. What I believe is that English language and literature subjects should be made compulsory than teaching every subject in English. Finding qualified teachers is another problem. I introduced a course in English at the Sabaragamuwa University with the vision of producing English teachers to fill in these vacancies. Today all over the island there are English teachers graduated from the Sabaragamuwa University.

You all may wonder whether education is all about English since I emphasized on English Language. There is another subject in the Sri Lankan education system that we need to give importance to. Second language is also important. Tamil should be made compulsory to Sinhala medium students and Sinhala should be made compulsory to Tamil medium students as their second language.

I tried out this strategy successfully in the Sabaragamuwa University. This was useful to both Sinhala and Tamil medium students. Unfortunately, this policy has been over ruled after my tenure of office of Vice Chancellor. Studying your neighbour’s language is important in a multi-ethnic society.

Apart from knowledge in languages, the discipline that education creates is also important. What is education? Anything that will develop a person’s character, mentality and physical skills comes under education. Discipline is also a part of education. Vidya Dathathi Vinayang also means this.

Economists categorise the factors that are essential for the production in a country; land or natural resources, capital, labour and entrepreneurship. Let me add good behaviour, honesty and dedication to those categories. In the developed countries we see these qualities. Though at initial stages there were tight laws and regulations, gradually these have become a part of their culture. How did Singapore develop to such a State? What are the resources they had? Nothing. Lee Quan Yu gave importance to build up good behaviour, honesty and dedication in the people of his land. Singapore is being considered the most disciplined country in the world.

Japan is also a country that developed with dedication and honesty of people. Dubai which is in middle of the desert has become one of the developed countries of the world with their strict discipline. Where good behaviour, honesty and dedication fade away from a society the development diminishes. The vision of the Sri Lankan education system should be to create a future generation embossed with good behaviour, honesty and dedication. The economist. Ragnar Nurkse has said ‘a country is poor because it is poor’. I would like to change this statement ‘countries are poor in income because they are poor in discipline.’

Working hours

What can we expect from a country without discipline? It is only corruption and waste. Our country was an example to Singapore during 1940s- 1950s. Today, we are in a state to make Singapore as our example. But we don’t seem to be doing that too. Now we have a peaceful country. Even when war was on, we were able to reach the middle-income countries category. It includes countries with a per-capita income between 976-3855 dollars. Our per-capita income is above 2,000 dollars. Therefore, we are also in this group. Sri Lanka can reach big heights than this. All we need is dedication.

In developed nations every employee works during the particular working hours with honesty and dedication. But in our country how many do work properly during the eight hours? Likewise, how many hours do we waste? For how many hours do we get paid for doing nothing? If you do not work for two hours per day that means you are stealing a one quarter of your salary.

Most of the time, some employees do not produce anything productive for the clients or the society. Therefore, I believe good behaviour, honesty and dedication as the essential factors of production. Just imagine how the national production will grow if everyone efficiently works during the working hours.

As discipline grows, poverty reduces. Discipline and poverty has a negative correlation. On the other hand, as corruption increases, poverty too increases. Corruption and poverty has a direct relationship. If we take measures to reduce corruption while enhancing discipline, poor countries will be able to achieve a better economic growth.