Nationalism and education in Sri Lanka from 1880-1948

Abstract

N a t i o n a l i s m i s a theme t h a t caught my fancy from the time, I was an undergraduate. It has been a dominant f o r c e , not only i n S r i - L a n k a , but i n the whole of South East A s i a . I f not f o r the f o r c e of n a t i o n a l i s m that has been at work perhaps, a few of the weaker n a t i o n s , would have beon a s s i m i l a t ed by the powerful est, i n t h e i r quest f o r power and p r e s t i g e . Some of us owe our v e r y s u r v i v al t o t h i s powerful f o r c e . K'any of our i n s t i t u t i o ns t r a d i t i o n s and customs have been saved by t h i s. Education was one such sphere, where i t s powerful i n f l u e n c e began t o be f e l t from 1880. Of course 'Nationalism' had awakened the people c f Sri-Lanka long before t h a t , but the r e s i s t i v e movements i n t h t form of w e l l organised e d u c a t i o n a l i n s t i t u t i o n s began to aopear only a f t e r 1880. Kence the d e c i s i o n t o begin my d i s c u s s i o n from that year. 194-8 marks the end of an era w i t h the dawn of the 'independence. Therefore the d i s c u s s i o n ends there. I have d e a l t w i t h i t i n e i g h t chapters. The f i r s t chapter i s more or l e s s i n t r o d u c t o r y ^ - With an open d i s c u s s i o n about n a t i o n a l i s m and the s i g n i f i c a n t r o l e i t has played i n the other c o u n t r i e s. The Chapters 2 - 6 deal w i t h the h i s t o r y of education i n S r i - L a n k a from very e a r l y times up to 194-8, because the changes a f t e r 1880 cannot be understood unless i n r e l a t i o n to the h i s t o r i c al background. The chapter 7 e x p l a i n s the extent to which the educational changes of S r i - L a n k a were a f f e c t e d by n a t i o n a l i s m , w h i l e the l a s t chapter evaluates these changes, i n r e l a t i o n to the present. I n d e a l i n g w i t h the subject matter I have gone i n t o the o r i g i n a l sources whenever they were a v a i l a b l e. Rut the secondry sources too were of immense help.