Sri Lanka is a developing country and everyone has to learn English because today everything seems to be English. When we consider about education in Sri Lanka, children are forced to learn English starting at preschool in order to make their English better. English is added as a compulsory subject in O Level examination and in A Level examination in SL. Sri Lankan universities are conducting almost all the studies through English medium. After completing a university degree it's time to take up a professional course and of course those professional courses are in English medium. So I think you have to have a very good knowledge of English to be educated and to shine in the society.
The next fact I'm sharing with you is finding a job in this competitive society. Every boss is looking for qualified, talented, smart and confident employees. For example if you apply for a high class job and when you go for the interview, do you know what kind of employees are going to be hired up? Obviously as I mentioned above qualified, talented, smart and confident employees with fluent English. Why English is so important to find a job? because we already know that people deal with others in English language especially in the business world, scientific world and other.
So what my point here is that you can't get a pretty good job or a promotion without knowing proper English.
How do we communicate with others people in foreign countries who do not speak our mother tongue? The answer is using English because everyone knows at least a little English. English helps to raise up tourism because its easy to communicate with the foreigners. Just think about how hard would it be to keep tourism in each