Rajiva Wijesinha

“ Instead he lamented about those who suffered because they could not cope with English medium education. He ignored the obvious answer, to ensure that they could learn in the vernaculars as well as in English. Vernacular education was widely available, since the 1945 decision allowed choice. The problem was that schools offering it were considered inferior. But, instead of developing those, Jayasuriya’s solution was ‘eliminate qualitative differences among schools purporting to serve the same age groups’, i.e. bring all schools down to the level of those considered inferior to begin with. ”

“ The motive force behind the agitation for change was derived from a predominantly egalitarian ideology `85`85.it came largely from that sector of the elite which, while it had received a high quality education through the English language `85 had its roots planted firmly in the national ethos `85 some espoused the cause of the common man through a nationalistic orientation and value system, while others espoused the cause of the common man through a socialistic value system. ”

“ From a liberal perspective, finding these nationalist and statist ideologies the main cause of our present sad state, I am tempted to say QED. However, a more detailed critique will indicate how these measures contributed to the ethnic problem, and also to lowering the denominator exponentially in the lowest common denominator approach they encouraged. ”