Again JVP has shown its "frog in the well" mentality by attacking the introduction of English as a medium of instruction in schools. It is no secret that English can be used as a vehicle for higher education both here and abroad, help find jobs in the rapidly advancing IT sector and provide many opportunities for employment abroad and in the private sector. What the JVP is trying to do is to create a generation of disgruntled youth who will be unable to obtain jobs in any of these sectors. Then, these youths will fall easy prey to the political vultures in the JVP to carry out their outdated Marxist ideologies and create conditions for more blood baths like what happened in 1971 and 1989.

Jawaharlal Nehru, when he was the Prime minister of India, was asked why he is not shifting the medium of instruction from English to Hindi in Indian universities. He thought for a while and gave the reply, "I will think about it 60 years from now". Such was the wisdom shown by the founding fathers of India that they could foresee the use of English as a vehicle for economic prosperity in the future. In contrast, we had leaders with no vision who totally abolished the English medium in the early 1970s for political reasons. They were simply playing to the gallery and now we are reaping the repercussions of this unwise decision. The English knowledge of our undergraduates and even the general public is far poorer than those in India. As a result, our graduates have to stage protests and go in processions trying to force governments to give them jobs. This is because our private sector is wary of giving jobs to people who do not have the required skills in English and IT. In the case of graduates, JVP is cleverly manipulating their hold first through their inhuman ragging and propagating the myth that English is not an essential skill required for future jobs.

Those people who fought hard to shift to ‘Swabasha’ earlier were the ruling elite and other pseudo-nationalists who had a good English education and did not want the common man’s son or daughter to get a good education in English. Now it is the JVP which is trying to prevent students from not so affluent backgrounds to improve their English.

The so called educational committee of the JVP is saying that the introduction of English medium was a failure. This shift was not without its share of problems mainly due to lack of competent teachers through four decades of neglecting English as a medium of instruction. However, this is not a reason to get back to the earlier system. We have to do this for several years and improve competencies of teachers and students coming out of this system can carry this system forward in a more efficient manner.

Introduction of English medium helps students to learn English in addition to the technical subjects they learn. Many students during my time whose parents did not speak a word of English at home became very good at English mainly because they learned technical subjects, such as science and mathematics, in the English medium. I know very well that it was from school that I learnt to speak and write English. When the government is trying to correct this historic blunder, the JVP is trying to destroy it and produce a frustrated young generation incapable of facing challenges of a rapidly globalized world.

India has been able to reap the benefits of the IT revolution and achieve an economic miracle mainly due to the excellent English medium instruction received both in schools and universities. It has been estimated that one out of two IT professionals world-wide is Indian. The same is not true of Chinese, who could not penetrate the international job market due to deficiencies of their English knowledge.

The JVP also says that the medium of instruction in the sciences at school level should be the native language. This theory is hard to accept because whether we like it or not, English is the language of science. Technical words in English are those which are commonly used in day-to-day language use. For example, the word ‘acceleration’ used in science is also commonly used, such as the acceleration of a motor vehicle. So, students grasp the meaning of this term. However, the word used for acceleration in Sinhala is one which is never used in our day to day activities. Most science words in Sinhala are derived from Sanskrit words which are beautiful, yet never in ordinary use. Hence, students will have to understand these alien words which have their origin in a dead language. However, a student with a good English knowledge will not find it hard to comprehend those technical terms in English. Having studied science in the English medium and teaching science in both English and Sinhala media for over three decades, this writer has enough first- hand experience in this field. Most universities have now shifted to the English medium and undergraduates with a poor English knowledge find it extremely hard to cope with their studies. Here, they have to learn both English and science to survive, which is a daunting task.

I wonder who these experts are who claim that it is best to use ‘Swabasha’ to teach science in the school curriculum? Some argue that in Japan, science is taught in the Japanese language. However, Japan is a rich country who have more facilities and a strong economy which can absorb all school leavers at a national level and the question of finding jobs does not arise.