ADOPT NEW TRENDS AND INVENTIONS FOR SURVIVAL
Kumaratunga Munidasa’s formula for national success
Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardene said a child who is not conversant with his mother tongue would be a misfit in society and that every child should learn his mother tongue beginning from the primary grades just as he learns other subjects.
Addressing a recent ceremony at Dikwella Kumaratunga Maha Vidyalaya to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the erudite scholar Kumaratunga Munidasa he said only an individual well versed in his mother tongue could learn foreign languages and use that capability in literary pursuits. The ceremony started after the minister garlanded the Kumaratunga Munidasa statue.
The minister went on to say: “The South has produced many great men who changed the course
Anagarika Dharmapala, Migettuwatte Gunananda, Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, Martin Wickremesinghe, and Kumaratunga were some of the great men born and bred in the South
of the nation. There were scholars, writers, artistes, erudite Buddhist monks, new inventors and patriots among them. Anagarika Dharmapala, Migettuwatte Gunananda, Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, Martin Wickremesinghe, and Kumaratunga were some of the great men born and bred in the South.
Several private schools and international schools requested for permission from the Special Advisory Committee of the Educa- tion Department to teach the primary grade children from Grades 1-5 in the English medium. I, as the Minister of Education refused it and the majority of the committee decided that all children should pursue their primary education in their mother tongue. However, the need of the hour is to produce a generation that can meet modern requirements. Kumaratunga Munidasa’s message that is over a century old, “A nation that ignored new trends and failed to make new inventions will not survive,” is the best guideline to the present generation to meet the challenges of the fast developing world. ”
Chief Incumbent of the Wewurukannala Budurajagala temple, Dr. Dikwelle Tissa, organiser of the Kumaratunga Foundation Dr. Sitinamaluwe Sudhamma Thera, Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara, Principal of the Kumaratunga Munidasa Maha Vidyalaya, U.Sumathipala addressed the gathering.