Tamil University Part II: The Tamil University Movement
Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
The Tamil University Movement (TUM)
The World of Learning, covering education worldwide, announced that “Navalar Hall Colombo was founded in 1957 as the first Tamil University in Ceylon” (1960 issue). In that felicitous announcement, the memories of universities by Christians in the Pearl Fishery and Batticotta were suppressed.
In backdrop, a 1951 Official Language Commission under Justice Arthur Wijewardena on how Sinhalese and Tamil could be introduced, mooted the replacement of English with only one language. Wijewardene’s 1953 commission, reporting in July 1956 (with minority commissioners dissenting), assumed that Sinhalese would be the sole official language and recommended six Sinhalese admissions to each Tamil (i.e., 86% of seats for Sinhalese numbering 69%), that Peradeniya and Colombo become Sinhalese universities with another in Galle, and that a Tamil University be established in Jaffna or Batticaloa. But the then Prime Minister reaffirmed Tamil and Sinhalese enjoy parity.
