• DOI:10.1086/444834
• Corpus ID: 144509665

The Dilemmas of Education in Ceylon

@article{Ryan1960TheDO,
  title={The Dilemmas of Education in Ceylon},
  author={Bryce. Ryan},
  journal={Comparative Education Review},
  year={1960},
  volume={4},
  pages={84 - 92}
}

• B. Ryan
• Published 1 October 1960
• History
• Comparative Education Review

school they become focused on the question of the language through which instruction will take place. This language issue is tied up with ethnic group rivalry, antiwestern feeling, and Buddhist revivalism. Inequality in educational opportunity has played an important part in stimulating each of these underlying forces. The island of Ceylon was colonized 2500 years ago by North Indian invaders. This Aryan-speaking people established the early Anuradhapura civilization based on irrigated rice culture, a feudal-caste social structure, and Buddhism. This society became the Sinhalese nation. From early times, however, Ceylon was subject to invasions from South India. The northern and to some extent the eastern parts of the island became Hindu Tamil strongholds. Here, especially in the northerly Jaffna Peninsula, the civilization of Tamilnad was transplanted. As the centuries rolled by the Sinhalese came to occupy the central, southern, and western parts of the island. The ancient capital of Anuradhapura stands today on the frontier of Tamil and Sinhalese settlements.