Northerners keen to learn Sinhala

Priyanka Kurugala

Northerners are keen to learn Sinhala while some Tamil youths are quite adept at using Sinhala to communicate with the members of the majority community visiting the North in their numbers in the post - war era, Tamil Buddhist Association president A Ravi Kumar said.

"Public transport workers, taxi drivers and businessmen in the North have realised that Sinhala language is essential to communicate with the majority community and therefore they also like to learn Sinhala," he said.

Kumar said while a number of private classes have commenced to teach Sinhala, it is better if the government can start a school system to teach Sinhala free of charge.

"If this could be arranged, there is no doubt that many children in the North will show a keen interest to learn Sinhala," he said.

" I am also a Sinhala teacher. I personally know that many persons, especially children, are eager to converse in Sinhala. However, the problem is they are poor in Sinhala language skills," Kumar said.

He said another problem is that some Tamil politicians in the North discourage people from learning Sinhala although their children have the opportunity to study any language.

"This pattern should be changed. All Sri Lankans have to develop language skills, specially in both languages, Sinhala and Tamil," he said.