Implementing Tamil language provisions

On paper at least, Tamil is an official language of this country. However, how far has the State progressed in translating this important piece of legislation into reality ?

This is the poser which ought to trouble the minds of those fervently supporting a policy of national integration. In other words, those supporting a just peace.

We are glad that no less a body than the Organisation of Professional Associations has taken up this matter with the Minister of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration.

This campaign on making the Official Language Act a concrete reality, we hope, would be taken up by other concerned persons and groups as ethnic harmony is inconceivable without the earnest implementation of the official language provisions of the constitution.

The theoretical foundation of the importance of the communities of this land learning each others languages is known and recognized by most knowledgeable quarters.

Language, after all, is a cultural marker and is closely bound-up with the identity of a community. When one learns another's language one is really finding a way into the heart and mind of the other.

It is this that makes language learning a great bridge-builder. It is a profound facilitator of communication between persons and groups. Therefore, language learning is a key to communal harmony.

This is well known among the literate but there seems to be a marked reluctance among sections of the State bureaucracy to implement earnestly the Official Language Act which would make Tamil a truly official language of Sri Lanka.

We hope we would be proved wrong on this issue by the bureaucracy charged with implementing the official language provisions of the constitution.

Put simply, if the Tamil language provisions of the constitution are implemented in full and consistently, a Tamil citizen should be in a position to receive an answer in Tamil to a written query, expressed in his mother tongue and addressed to a State institution.

This is a very simple test to ascertain whether the Official Language Act is being implemented at least to a degree.

However, we need to go very much beyond these basics. Public officials should ideally be proficient in all three languages: Sinhala, Tamil and English. To achieve this they should be provided the necessary incentives: salary increments, promotions, State recognition etc.

Such programmes were tried out in the past but have been allowed to go into decline for reasons best known to local officialdom. However, now as never before, they need to be revived and earnestly implemented, for, national unity is a crying need.

We suggest that Sri Lanka tries all over again. All three languages must be taught in the whole of the public school system.

Right throughout a Sinhala-speaking primary and secondary student's career he or she must be provided incentives to study Tamil and vice versa. Tamil could even be made a compulsory subject at the G.C.E. Ordinary Level examination.

We cannot afford to have a defeatist mindset on these issues. We may have failed in the past but we should resolve to succeed this time round.

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