The Hindu : International / India & World : ``Monolingualism hits varsity education in Sri Lanka''

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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

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International - India & World

``Monolingualism hits varsity education in Sri Lanka''

T.S. Subramanian

Neglect of English was short-sighted: Dharmadasa

— Photo: K. Pichumani

Prof. K.N.O. Dharmadasa, Editor-in-Chief, Sinhala Encyclopaedia.

CHENNAI: The ``whole national problem'' in Sri Lanka and ``the drop in the standards of university education'' on the island is the ``tragic result of monolingualism'' practised there after ``the switchover to the swabhasha'' medium of education, according to Professor K.N.O. Dharmadasa, Editor-in-Chief, Sinhala Encyclopaedia. The ``swabhasha'' policy entailed that Sinhalese students should study in the Sinhala medium and that Tamil students should study in the Tamil medium.

Dr. Dharmadasa, former Professor of Sinhala, University of Peradeniya and a Fulbright Fellow, said that after the switch to swabhasha (in the 1950s and 60s), those who managed the educational policy of the island neglected education in the English medium. ``Generations of people arose in the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s who were monolingual. This is the worse part. We could have been at least bilingual, in Sinhala and Tamil. That also never happened,'' he said.

Besides, the study of English was neglected. This was ``very short-sighted'' on the part of those who managed the educational policy at that time. They could have, while using the swabhasha medium for general education, maintained English as well on the same level, he said.

Praise for India

The ``good news'' now was that some universities were now thinking of changing the medium of instruction to English. ``But I have my doubts,'' he said. For, there was a fear in many quarters that ``again, a foolish, short-sighted step will be taken to ignore the swabhasha and go back to English alone, and not take care of Sinhala and Tamil.'' If that happened, people would have ``no identity.'' He wanted a balance to be struck between these two extremes. He had a word of praise for India. ``You have not forgotten English but you have your identity.''

Dr. Dharmadasa, 66, is a specialist in Sinhala nationalism and Buddhist revivalism. His Ph.D. dissertation was on ``The Rise of Sinhalese Language Nationalism: A Study in the Sociology of Language.'' He has done several studies on the language, culture and history of Vedas, a small aboriginal tribe of Sri Lanka. He is in Chennai now to deliver the third Vesak commemoration lecture on May 25.

Deity worship

A lot of Buddhists in Sri Lanka worshipped deities. If one were to look at this phenomenon, it was not in tune with what the Buddha taught. Buddhism did not believe in a creator or redeemer. The Buddha prescribed that one should earn his salvation through meditation, striving, and along the eight-fold noble path. Buddhism was for the attainment of ``nirvana.'' However, deities were worshipped for passing examinations, harvesting a good crop, profitable business and so on. In popular religion, deity worship was an important fact in Sri Lanka. All people had faith in deities.

``I am interested in how this came about in Sri Lanka. Maybe, this is a residue of pre-Buddhist beliefs. Some of the deities we worship are south Indian deities,'' he said. For instance, ``Iyyanar'' worship (widely prevalent in Tamil Nadu) was confined to a locality in the island. The ``Pitiye'' worship on the central highlands ``is blatantly south Indian but Sinhala Buddhists have great faith'' in this deity. People worshipped the Devol deity on the southern coast. There was Buddha Vishnu. ``Pathini'' worship was strong among the Sinhalese. (Pathini worship, the goddess symbolising fidelity, is prevalent in Tamil Nadu and Kerala). ``Pathini is a Buddhist deity and there is a shrine for her in Kandy. We consider her a Buddha, like Vishnu and Skanda. We have Buddhisised Hindu gods and deities,'' Dr. Dharmadasa said. This was syncretism — two religions coming together and mixing up.

On the Sinhala Encyclopaedia, he said, the project began in 1956 and 10 volumes had already been published. They were published according to the Sinhala alphabet. Ten more volumes were yet to be published. Since it was a Sinhala encyclopaedia, it would concentrate on subjects important to the Sri Lankan culture. For instance, it dealt with Buddhist stupas and Bodh viharas. A Bodh vihara was a kind of enclosure where the Bodhi tree was allowed to grow. The Buddha attained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree. ``It is a peculiar architectural form, which is not found in other religions: the tree being worshipped, an enclosure protecting it and devotees going round the tree,'' he said.

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``Monolingualism hits varsity education in Sri Lanka''