Resistance Towards the Language of Globalisation – The Case of Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper relates the contemporary educational reforms in Sri Lanka to the processes of globalisation. The international monetary organisations such as the IMF and the World Bank and the regional organisations like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) play a dominant role in influencing the debt-receiving countries when it comes to their educational practice. The intensity of the influence of these organisations can vary depending on the existing educational policy of the aid receiving countries. This paper, after a brief introduction on globalisation, examines its effects on the education policy in Sri Lanka with a special emphasis on the current language policy. Equity in education is usually advocated at primary level based on the universal primary education concept so highly upheld by the World Bank. However, the present high human development indicators are undoubtedly due to Sri Lanka's free education policy in native languages. The paper concludes stressing the importance to retain the national education policy as a means of empowerment and liberation of its masses and creating stronger ethnic harmony.