A trilingual Sri Lanka, which is currently limited only to the Constitution, would become a reality in the near future; National Intergration, Official Languages, Social Progress and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister Mano Ganeshan said.
Addressing the media yesterday at the Government Information Department, Minister Mano Ganeshan said the number of students who study the Tamil language at Sinhala medium schools, as well as the number of students who study the Sinhala language at Tamil medium schools, has increased tremendously.
As a result, there is a huge demand for Tamil language teachers at Sinhala schools and Sinhala language teachers at Tamil schools, he added.
Considering this, the ministry has taken measures to recruit 1,300 second language teachers with the assistance of the Education Ministry.
"A trilingual Sri Lanka where Sinhala and Tamil-speaking people will relate to each other in each others' languages, with English as the official language, would solve all racial issues—and all Sri Lankans would be able to live together as the children of one mother," he added. Under the guidance of Minister Mano Ganeshan, a programme called 'Teach if You Know; Learn if You Don't' has been implemented by the National Institute for Language Education Training, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), targetting citizens who don't know the second language, as well as schoolchildren.
A ceremony to felicitate students who obtained A passes for the Tamil and Sinhala languages as their second language is to be held on July 18 under the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees.
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