COLOMBO, March 9: The fascinating story of Sri Lanka’s past, one of the longest-written histories in the world, is contained in two great literary works compiled by Buddhist monks in the sixth century B C.
Educationists worry that the ancient chronicles no longer fascinate university students who are opting for science and information technology. The arts have been edged out of classrooms, apparently because they don’t help students to find quick and lucrative jobs. Only 1,981 students opted for history at high school in 1990, compared to 17,507 in 1966.
A paper presented by a
Historian Dr Wimala Ratnayake cautioned that by neglecting the role of history in education, Sri Lanka was allowing self-seeking politicians and rabble-rousers an opportunity to distort history. “The answer todistortion of history is not to turn your back on it but to see that it is correctly taught so that independent judgements are made. Good history teaching/learning can help children and youth to discriminate between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, good and bad,” she said.
For 15 years, Tamil rebels have been fighting for a homeland in the island’s north and east, which they say was their “traditional homeland”.
Historians reject the claim, saying that all communities in Sri Lanka have a right to live wherever they want and that there was never a “traditional” homeland concept.
Ratnayake pointed out that the swing away from the arts “has happened at a time when the country is faced with political, social and economic problems of a serious nature that demand historical perspectives, and at a time when everyone needs to understand the past to shed light on the present national crisis.” She said educationists must act quickly to prevent “history teaching from becoming history.”
TheNational Education Commission warned, “The question is being raised as to whether, we are seeing the evening of that culture and civilisation. Education, instead of deepening wisdom, appears to be narrowing the outlook.”
This, Dr Ratnayake said, was bound to happen when a continuous and recorded history of 2,500 years, was not given its due place in the school curriculum.The trend can be reversed. Britain, faced with a similar situation in the 1960s, reintroduced history and geography as foundation subjects in the national curriculum for 5- to 14-year-olds, thus re-activating an interest in the study of history.
National unity is important to guarantee the future of Sri Lanka as rising communalism, divisive forces, terrorism and violence threaten to tear the country apart. Thousands of people have died since 1971 as left-wing Sinhalese launched two unsuccessful revolts against the state and Tamil rebels continue their campaign of death and destruction, in defence of self-determination rights.
DrRatnayake surmised that it is only through a historical study that children will understand and appreciate the nation’s achievements, contributions, successes and failures. “It will help them identify with their rich historical background, give them a feeling of belonging and a sense of security which will help to develop in them a feeling of patriotism and nationalism (not narrow chauvinism),” she said at the conference.
Ratnayake, who teaches history at Peradeniya University, said allegations of youth being unpatriotic, destructive, selfish and indifferent to the needs of society stemmed from history not being given its rightful place in the school curriculum.
While sociology, economics and political science are vehicles for analysing the world, history plays a greater role in as it embraces other social sciences without requiring the acquisition of a detailed methodology and the language of each separate social science.
Dr Ratnayake urged that children be provided with opportunities to handleoriginal source material, visit historical sites, view archaeological excavations, make use of museums, and talk to elders in villages and towns.
A sense of history will give them a sense of worth, she said.