10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Colombo· 23 May 2025 ·Oral question: Oral Question 6: Compulsory Teaching of Languages in Schools (Q.222/2024)

EducationEthnic Reconciliation & Devolution
AI summary generated by gpt-5.5

Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya stated that, while education reforms aim to reduce students’ subject load, learning each other’s languages remains essential. She said the Government is moving to make relevant language subjects compulsory from Grades 6 to 9 and to promote language and cultural learning outside the classroom through joint activities among Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim children, ideally from Grades 1 to 13.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, that is an important question. On one hand, we are trying to reduce the subject load on students; but learning each other’s languages is essential. Therefore, with the education reforms, we are moving towards making these subjects compulsory from Grade 6 to Grade 9. We also intend to create opportunities for language learning outside the classroom, through joint activities of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim children, to learn each other’s language and culture, ideally throughout Grades 1 to 13.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Friday, 23 May 2025 ·No. 1750228312097834 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 23 May 2025. No. 1750228312097834. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/23851