British High Commission and British Council support ninth Language and Social Cohesion Conference

The ninth International Language and Development conference on Language and Social Cohesion was inaugurated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday 17 October. The conference was organised and hosted by the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration, the Ministry of Education, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and the British Council.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the three day conference, British High Commissioner John Rankin said: “I am pleased to be here because of the importance of language in supporting sustainable peace. I welcome the statement which President Rajapaksa made at the opening of this conference, reiterating his Government’s commitment to safeguarding language rights in Sri Lanka, promoting both Tamil and Sinhala, together with English as a link language.”

Supporting the President’s vision of a trilingual nation, he said: “Together with the Asia Foundation, the British High Commission in Sri Lanka is providing Tamil language training to 1,200 Police officers each year to increase their ability to engage effectively in policing within the communities in which they serve.”

He also spoke of how language has proved to be a tool of social cohesion in other parts of the world. “In Northern Ireland, the support given to the Irish language and Ulster Scots, building on the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, has helped to build social cohesion within communities and to promote mutual respect between communities.”

Also addressing the audience at the closing ceremony of the conference, Tony Reilly, Country Director of the British Council Sri Lanka, added to the British High Commissioner’s thoughts: “I hope Sri Lanka feels less alone in grappling with the complexities and nuances of formulating your own trilingual language policy. There will of course be challenges ahead for Sri Lanka, but I hope you will take heart from the knowledge that, while unique in some respects as all country contexts are, you are walking along a well-trodden path as you strive to address the interrelated issues of language, social integration and inter-communal harmony.”

Reilly added: “I hope the discussion and experiences shared at this conference have provided reaffirmation of the direction Sri Lanka has chosen in terms of its Trilingual Language Policy. I hope it has also provided food for thought and further reflection on the difficult choices that have to be made. This conference is happening at the right time and in the right place. It has provided Sri Lanka with a unique opportunity to get their language policy right, to find the right balance between ideology and pragmatism, as the country continues on its journey to build harmony and inter-communal trust and understanding.”

Speaking of the British Council’s global role vis-à-vis the teaching and learning of English at the Language and Social Cohesion conference, Reilly said: “Our role in bringing about more widespread and better quality teaching and learning of English worldwide carries with it a responsibility to recognise the potential harm and damage that an unthinking and uncritical approach to the promotion of English in certain contexts might have.”

The ninth International Language and Development Conference focusing this year on the theme Language and Social Cohesion explored language in the context of policy, identity, economic development, education, and the arts, and provided a forum for discussion of learning and innovation in the area of language and social cohesion through keynote addresses, parallel sessions, cross-cultural performance art events, and panel discussions.

The conference was attended by delegates from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, the Philippines, Rwanda, Cameroon, Tanzania, Canada and of course, Sri Lanka.