Education policy and the future of language planning in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Language is the identity of a human being. When any government or institution tries to control the function of that language by using the language policy thatwill affectthe society.This research paper discusses how English is established as a link language according to the 13th amendment of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka of 1987, how English is introducedas one of the mediums of instruction in school and higher education sectors and how this affects the future of the language planning in Sri Lanka. In 1997, as a result of the general education reforms asrecommended by the president of the reforms taskforce, English became a core subject.In 2000, English medium instructionwas implemented in the government schoolsfrom grade 6. After this the number of the English medium government schools increased every year according to the Department of Census and Statistics. On the other hand medium of the instruction fromgrades 1 to 13 in private schools is English.The implementation of a selected language or languages is a most important factor in the use of language in government activity in the central and provincial administration,in the courts of law and in education, which become the most important areas of socio-political life.As a multilingual country, Sri Lanka needs a lingua-francato communicate with the different ethnic groups. In this context if the international language as an official or educational language is selected, it will affect the national and minority languages.Under this language planning English will become a main working official language in Sri Lanka and a situation of diglossia will follow.