Official Language Act No.33 of 1956 ('Sinhala Only Act')

Summary

Made Sinhala the sole official language of Ceylon, replacing English. This immediately disadvantaged Tamil civil servants and effectively excluded Tamils from government employment, public administration, and the military unless they learned Sinhala. Widely regarded as the political catalyst for Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka. Formally superseded by the 13th Amendment (1987) which made Tamil also an official language, but implementation remains incomplete.

Relevance to the diaspora

The Sinhala Only Act is the historical starting point for most diaspora accounts of Tamil marginalisation; its legacy in discriminatory state employment and education policy continues to feature in Tamil human rights advocacy documentation.

Key provisions

• s.2 — Sinhala to be the official language of Ceylon
• 13th Amendment Art. 18 — Tamil recognised as an official language (1987)
• 16th Amendment — Tamil as language of administration in Northern and Eastern Provinces

Primary source

Related entries

• → Ceylon Citizenship Act No.18 of 1948 (Stateless Tamils) (LK)
• → UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities 1992 (UN)
• → International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) 1965 (UN)