Language policy Origins of the Sri Lankan civil war
the detailed reports of kandyan peasantry commission (1947), buddhist commission (1956), statistics of preponderant admissions of tamil speaking students university provided basis these sinhala activists ensured s.w.r.d. bandaranaike won landslide victory in 1956, campaigning on strong sinhala nationalist platform.
ethnic conflict aggravated sinhala official language act of 1956. general consensus existed english should replaced country s official language. in act, sri lankan government replaced english sinhala deprived tamils of right deal government institutions in language limited opportunity join government service. 1956 approximately 75% of population maintained fluency in sinhala language, approximately 15% proficient in tamil , remaining ethnic groups spoke english including burghers , muslims. multi-linguism not common-spread, although many sri lankans had knowledge of @ least 2 of 3 main languages.
the sri lanka freedom party (slfp) government led solomon bandaranaike sworn office on platform of helping growing population of unemployed youth disenfranchised sinhala official language policy. majority of civil servants under colonial rule tamil positions benefited free english-medium missionary schools in north , east of island. tamil federal party led group of tamil volunteers , staged sit-down satyagraha (peaceful protest).
the sinhala official language policy gradually weakened subsequent governments , in 1987 tamil made official language of sri lanka, alongside sinhala. english has remained de facto language of governance; government activity continues carried out in english, including drafting of legislation.
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