English medium or learning of English?

Authors of several articles/letters appeared in The Island and Sunday Island agitate for commencing English medium education. Recently the education minister too said that the Education Ministry was planning to introduce the English medium in all schools from Grade 1 next year. It is also said that one of the main reasons children find it difficult to progress in their studies is the lack of knowledge of the English language and the shortage of English teachers.

The important question is if lack of English language knowledge and the shortage of English teachers are a problem, how can a student learn in the English Medium?

If you understand the language well, grasping something written or heard in that language would not be a problem. What should be done originally is improving of language skills. Without it, going for English Medium would be more damaging than in the current circumstances.Many Sri Lankans who had their basic education in Sinhala / Tamil  medium are holding various high positions in many developed countries and that shows Medium of education had not been a problem for them.

We should improve our ways and methods of teaching of English and provide students (and everybody else) with facilities to cultivate the habit of reading everything written in English, they can lay their hands on.

K Siriweera