The Hon. Ajith P. Perera

¶ 01 A widely used international language is English. There are many international languages, and under our Constitution, English is accepted as the link language. Some may dislike that. Our Sinhala and Tamil are official languages, while English is recognized constitutionally as the link language.

¶ 02 Hon. Prime Minister, if we are to bring a revolutionary change in education; if we are to stop children being isolated by turning to international schools that lack facilities and curricula; if we are to advance in IT, law, medicine, other commercial fields and academic subjects, I propose that we boldly start English-medium classes in all secondary schools in this country. We do not need to do it all at once from Grade 6 to A/L. Study it, survey it. There is already a considerable cadre of teachers who know English and can teach in English. For the past ten years many universities have taught in English, and graduates proficient in English are available. Through them we can start from Grade 6. Train the existing teachers, invest adequately, and year by year extend it to Grades 7, 8, 9, 10 and subsequently up to A/L.

¶ 03 Hon. Presiding Member, my time is up? Please give me one minute.

¶ 04 We can carry this out. If you ask teachers directly, they may say “no” because they prefer to continue as they do now. As a country, and as the Opposition, we will extend support to implement this within secondary education. When Minister Kannangara started Central Colleges, education there was conducted in English medium. Village children who did not know a letter of English entered secondary education in English and built their lives. Generations emerged from poverty because they learnt in English. It made social mobility easier. Today we have fallen behind due to not knowing the international language. Hon. Prime Minister, take this on as a challenge. Out of around 10,000 schools, there are about 1,300 secondary schools. Let us accept this challenge. If we do, we can eradicate poverty and leap forward. Thank you. We are very willing to discuss this and provide necessary support and knowledge. Many in this country have thought about and experienced this.