La posición de los interlocutores sociales

assembly programmes. Grant and Chapman (2008) explain that a major goal of inter group education was to reduce racial and ethnic prejudice with intervention such as teaching units on minority groups, assemblies and cultural get-togethers and the banning of books considered stereotypical and that knowledge about ethnic groups would help students to develop more positive racial attitudes. The principals of all five schools indicated that they used Sinhala language in assemblies and some special days and for some parts of assemblies that they used the English language. Their comments were reflected in the students’ questionnaires which noted that the majority of student school assemblies were often about different cultures and races with most of the Sinhalese and Tamil students having positive views (Table 17, Appendix D). A chi square calculation indicated there was a significant difference between ethnic groups (p = 0.006) (Table 17a, Appendix D). The difference was between the Muslims and the other groups, forty percent of whom replied ‘Rarely’ or ‘Never’.

According to the ESCP Report (2008) morning assembly provides a good stage for developing peace vision and attitudes in the school community. Included among the suggestions were: presenting a day’s peace thought (by student or teacher), reading a portion from world literature that appeals to noble thought, listening to a peace song, presentation of world news of the week, drama with a moral sense, guest speech, record radio programme/or a programme produce by students, session of devotional songs, presentation of life stories of great men and women (ESCP Report, 2008).When forty per cent of one cultural group felt their culture was not represented in assemblies in the five schools there may be some concern. However, this forty per cent needs to be considered against the student and staff views derived from the focus groups

conducted in the five Sri Lankan schools.

Focus groups interviews indicated that at morning assemblies the students prayed to Lord Buddha but were given time to pray other gods also. Girls’ School 1 and Girls’ School 2 had different types of assemblies. However teachers in Boys’ School 1 said that the school did not have religious assemblies. Morning assembly was open for all students from different faiths.

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The principal of Girls’ School 1 said, ‘During the morning assembly the children practise their own prayers. After the prayers, all children start to sing the school song together. Therefore, all feel the same then’

Interestingly, the lack of inclusion of diverse cultures in school assemblies is not confined to Sri Lankan schools. In England a large number of students (twenty five) from all ethnic groups replied ‘Rarely’ or ‘Never’ to the statement ‘School assemblies are often about different cultures and races’ (Table 15, Appendix G). As with the Sri Lankan findings, the student questionnaire data differs markedly from that obtained in the staff focus groups. For example, History and ICT teachers disagreed with the majority student view. They explained through focus group interviews that there were a lot of different types of assemblies. Occasionally assemblies had a religious aspect but it was never prayer. They were assemblies with a religious dimension. One teacher commented ‘Certainly coming up to Christmas we have remembrance assembly which the chaplain conducts and he does a lot of the power points that we show in assemblies’. The teacher had experience of Roman Catholic schools where most of the teachers were Roman Catholic as were the majority of students. There the religious study was just Roman Catholic. The current school had not picked up festival days because RE had come through quite a lot in the school. However, teachers of business studies, science and PE explained that assemblies picked out some traditions. ‘We may be Church of England, if you like, but are all faith and no faiths. So if you break it down it’s the morals, truth, honesty, integrity, as opposed to […..]. You’d expect that here.’

One of the goals in the new Education Act for general education in Sri Lanka (2009) is ‘Respecting human dignity, recognizing the pluralistic nature and cultural diversity in Sri Lanka, and upholding tolerance and reconciliation’. As Perera et al. (2004) commented, history as a subject has significant potential in facilitating social cohesion and integrity. There is a special demand on the subject of religion in the school curriculum. Perera et al (2004) explain that a content analysis of the textbooks used for the subject of religion at the secondary level which was undertaken as part of an on-going research project at national level for the National Education Commission, clearly indicates the nature of the transformation that is needed if the subject of religion is to be effectively enlisted in the case of forging social cohesion.

Many people believed that youth unrest directly influenced Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict. Youth of all communities need to live together in harmony in a multi-ethnic, multi- religious society. The report of the Presidential Commission (1990) recommended that

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awareness of other religions and practices should be introduced into the school

curriculum from the beginning of school. Then they suggested that all textbooks in two languages (Sinhala and Tamil) should be re-examined and should include stories which relate to national harmony and they suggested Arabian Islam be made available in all Muslim schools. The Report of General Education Reforms (1997) criticized the education system in Sri Lanka at that time. It explained that the education system did not produce the knowledge and understanding and the skills and attitudes appropriate for successful living. Further it explained that the development of the students’ total development, creativity, initiative, discipline, team spirit, respect and tolerance for other people and other cultures was not being achieved at the time.

The National Education Commission (1992) introduced sets of basic competencies of education in Sri Lanka. Among the basic competencies, the third set of competencies is a focus on values and attitudes which argue that it is essential for the individual to

assimilate values which are consistent with the ethical, moral and religious modes of conduct, rituals, practices in everyday living, selecting that which is most appropriate. The Report of the General Education Reforms (1997) gave more attention to values education and national integration. As values and morals cannot be taught through separate subjects, the reform suggested they should be learned continuously through all subjects and through all the years of schooling. For example, the teaching of religion can contribute to building up appropriate values and morals. The five schools of the centre of the current study were identified as including high proportions of students with

multicultural backgrounds. We might expect therefore that they would demonstrate many of the attributes identified here. A chi square calculation indicated there was no significant difference between ethnic groups with over 95% of students from all ethnic backgrounds in the five schools replying ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Have you studied some of the history of your own culture?’ (Table 18, Appendix D). This therefore is an important finding in the context of Sri Lanka’s multiethnic history.

The main characteristic of an integration perspective on multi-cultural education is a focus on rejecting the prejudice against minority groups. In England teaching about culture is intended to promote a positive self-image among Black people, and tolerance and sympathetic understanding among White people (Arora, 2005). So the issue of who is able to study the history of their own culture is an important one. The students’

questionnaire in England indicated that White British and some minority students were more likely to say that they had studied some of the history of their own culture.

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East European, one Black Caribbean and one Black African student (Table 16, Appendix G).

6.1.7 Perceptions that the library had books about people from different