The Japanese government has granted Rs. 100 million under its Non-Project Counterpart Fund to implement two projects identified by the Sri Lankan government aimed at facilitating the implementation of the Trilingual Language Policy of Sri Lanka.
The first project is capacity building of language teachers in the general education system promoting a Trilingual Sri Lanka.
Rs. 80.24 million will be provided for this project for teacher development and capacity building by improving the quality of learning and teaching of Sinhala, Tamil, and English to promote trilingual Sri Lanka.
The project will be implemented by the Education Ministry and would support the development of teacher training material and conducting of training programs at provincial, zonal and divisional levels, establishment of quality circles of language teachers etc. The second project is the preparation of handbook for the use of government officers in all IV levels.
Rs. 20 million will be provided for this project for printing of study packs based on syllables prepared for second language proficiency in all four levels of public officers and the printing of related course modules. This project will be implemented by the National Languages and Social Integration Ministry.
The two projects are expected to benefit around 54,150 language teachers (Sinhala, Tamil, and English), nearly four million primary to secondary level students and 1.3 million public officers and the public as a whole.
Japan considers these two projects of great importance in terms of facilitating national reconciliation through promoting a Trilingual Sri Lanka enabling all communities to communicate with each other with ease and understanding. Japan hopes that these projects will enhance the government’s efforts towards reconciliation.
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