History of Sri Lanka.

· Sri lanka was colonized by the British between 1796 to 1948. During the British rule, it was known as Ceylon.

· Different types of race in Sri lanka. (eg.)

-Sri lankan tamil

-Indian tamil

-Moor

-Sinhala

The majority of people in Sri lanka are Sinhalese

Most of the Tamils are located in, Batticaloa , which is in the eastern side of Sri Lanka.

Ceylon Citizenship Act 1948

This act only granted citizenship to those who were born in Sri lanka and whose forefathers were born there.

These had caused many Indian Tamils to be stateless which means that they were not citizens of any country.

The Indian tamils do not have basic rights such as education, jobs, housing and voting.

Resettlement Policy 1950

The different races in Sri lanka are not evenly distributed throughout the island.

Sinhalese peasants were moved from densely populated southwestern and central areas to tamil areas.

The tamils were not happy

-Buddhist monks and the Sri lankan army which comprised of mostly Sinhalese came to occupy their lands.

Official Language Act 1956.

In 1956, Sinhala was declared as the official language in Sri lanka.

Most of the tamils were given a choice.

-They were given three years to learn Sinhalese or they will be dismissed.

Most of the tamils find it hard to find jobs and or be promoted.

New university admission criteria 1972.

In 1970, the government introduced new university admission criteria.

Tamils students had to score higher marks than Sinhalese students in order to enter the same course together.

A fixed number of places in the university are reserved for Sinhalese.

These had caused the number of tamil student entering university had decreased over the years.