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by Professor R.P. Gunawardane, Chairman, National Education Commission

Today is a day of significance for our school education system. After more than two decades, the period of GCE A/L examination has been advanced to April from this year. As from this year - 2002, the GCE A/L examination will be held in April. All these years the examination was held in August and the results were released in November/December the same year.

Although this change has been introduced with all good intentions there have been many protests against the advancement of the examination. These protests apparently have been made by some students, teachers and parents without understanding the rationale behind this advancement. In fact, the students come under this scheme will benefit tremendously from this change, which was officially announced two years ago. The main purpose of this article is to explain the background and reasons for this highly desirable change, which has been effected in the best interest of the nation, in particular the young generation of Sri Lanka.

The GCE A/L examination is the final examination at the secondary school level, and therefore, it serves as the opportunity to obtain the highest educational qualification prior to leaving school. It also serves as the University admission test. This examination determines not only selection of students to university entry but also serves as a barrier for entry into most of the tertiary education/training institutions.

Of the national examinations in Sri Lanka, the GCE A/L examination is considered the most important and most highly competitive examination which determines the future of our youth. Furthermore, our GCE A/L examination is considered as one of the most competitive examinations in the world today. Thus, it is apparent that any changes or adjustments with regard to conduct of this examination will have far reaching consequences in our education system. Therefore it becomes a sensitive issue, and it is in this perspective that we should look at the necessity and relevance of the advancement of this examination.

History

In this context, it is of interest to go into the history of this examination briefly. In the 1950s Hihger Senior School Certificate (HSC) examination was conducted as the terminal examination at the secondary level. HSC Examination was held regularly in December every year and it was replaced later by the GCE Advanced Level Examination in the year 1964. The GCE A/L examination was also held during the month of December from 1964 to 1968. During this period practical examination for those offering science subjects (e.g. Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology) was held in April. Only those who attained minimum stipulated marks for the theory papers held in December were called for the practical examinations held in April the following year. These practical examinations were held in the Universities of Colombo and Peradeniya at the time.

For the first time in the history, the GCE A/L examination was shifted to April in 1969. The examination was held in April until the year 1977. During this period yet another significant development took place. Practical examination for the science subjects was abolished in mid 1970s deviating from accepted international practices. Practical assessments/evaluations are held in respect of science subjects for equivalent examinations in almost all the countries in the world. Abolishment of practical examinations had serious consequences on the science education in Sri Lanka in subsequent years. For instance, students neglected the practical work in the school thereby development of practical skills of the students in various scientific disciplines was seriously affected. This was clearly manifested in their performance in various scientific professions and in the university education in science-based faculties.

However, during this period and until the year 1977 it was possible to admit the students who qualified for admission to universities in October the same year. During this period the universities had a regular academic year beginning October and ending in July/August making the transition from secondary education to tertiary/university education smooth. As a result the students at this time did not waste much time awaiting admission to the universities.

Yet another change occurred in the time table of national examinations in the year 1978. From 1978 the GCE A/L examination was held regularly in August every year except in 1989. In 1989, due to the civil disturbances prevailed in the South the GCE A/L examination had to be postponed to December. However, this situation was corrected the following year and from 1990 onwards the examination was held in August until the last year - 2001. From the year 2002 onwards the GCE A/L examination will be held once again in April every year.

Problems

When A/L examination is held in August, it is not possible to begin A/L classes for the fresh students until September. The class rooms and teachers would be available for the new students only in September. As a result, those who sat O/L examination in December wait for nearly 9 months wasting valuable time in their prime years.

Similarly, after A/L examination in August the students have to wait till September or October the following year for admission to Universities under normal circumstances. This situation has been further aggravated by the fact that there is a backlog of students waiting to enter the universities. In some instances there are 2-3 batches waiting to enter certain faculties. In fact the backlog was created during the period 1988/89 due to the unrest in universities and civil disturbances prevailed in the country at the time. This situation deteriorated still further in the mid 90s owing to student unrest and due to management problems in some universities. It was apparent that some faculties in certain universities have not taken an initiative to develop an action plan to clear the backlog.

Another disturbing feature prevailing in the University System in that different universities adopt different academic years/semesters due to various reasons. What is worst is that in the same university different faculties are adopting different academic years resulting in a chaotic situation in most universities. It is worth noting that no other country in the world has such a situation in the university system. An internationally accepted fixed academic year (October to July) is being practiced in all the countries in the world. Thus, this situation has to be corrected by synchronizing the academic years in all the faculties and the universities in our university system.

In these circumstances, those students who were fortunate enough to be selected to the universities had to wait 2-3 years at home wasting their valuable time prior to gaining admission to the universities. As explained earlier time lag occurs in two stages - after O/L examination and after A/L examination, prior to admission to the Universities. Accordingly, the total time lag was estimated to be in the range of 3-4 years in late 90s.

It is a national crime to waste 3-4 years of precious time of our young generation. It is absolutely essential to implement an action programme to reduce this time lag to a minimum and also to clear the backlog of admission to the universities without delay. It is in this context that the following action programme was formulated and announced in April 2000 by the then Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

Action plan

(1) To commence new A/L classes in all the schools in April/May after the new year holidays with effect from the year 2000.

(2) To conduct the GCE A/L Examination in April with effect from the year 2002.

This would enable the students to commence their A/L courses immediately after the O/L results are released, thereby saving at least 6 months of their valuable time. In April 2000 when the instructions regarding the commencement of A/L classes went to schools there was panic and excitement in the schools. Some school Principals, Zonal and Provincial Directors complained that it was not possible to conduct these classes in May due to lack of space and also citing various other difficulties. It was pointed out to them that the difficulty will arise only for 3 months (one term) from May to July in the transition period of two years - 2000 and 2001. As such, instructions were issued to them to make alternative arrangements to conduct the classes even by conducting some classes after normal school hours, in the afternoon.

Many schools welcomed this move and co-operated with the Ministry in conducting classes by making suitable alternative arrangements. As a result, other schools also fell in line and commenced their classes in May or June. The co-operation extended by the teachers and Principals for the implementation of this program is greatly appreciated.

Simultaneously, a separate action plan was developed with the university authorities to streamline the university education system. The main features of this program are given below:

(1) Accelerated program to clear the backlog of university admissions. This backlog should be cleared by all the universities before October 2002. This would allow those who qualify for admission to universities on the basis of the results of GCE A/L examination of April 2002 to be admitted to the Universities in October the same year. This scheme will continue uninterrupted every year.

(2) All universities to adopt a fixed academic year with effect from October 2002. As practised internationally the academic year starts in September/October every year and ends in July the following year.

Universities

Since the announcement of this policy all universities have fallen in line and were making necessary arrangements to implement the action plan within the stipulated time frame. Most university authorities embarked on this program in the national interest despite the financial constraints and staff problems experienced by these institutions.

All Universities prepared schedules and launched an action plan to clear the backlog of admission by October 2002. Most facalties are taking double batches and some others are working on short academic year/semester to meet the deadline. According to recent information from the University Grants Commission, the whole university system except a few faculties at Peradeniya and Colombo will be clearing their back-log of admission by October 2002. This means that they will be ready to take in students who sat the April 2002 A/L examination in October this year achieving the set target. It is expected that the remaining few faculties also will catch-up during this year and join the main stream in October 2003, streamlining the whole higher education system in Sri Lanka.

The Vice-Chancellors, Deans and the other staff of the Universities extended their fullest co-operation to this program recognising this as an urgent national issue. Their dedication and commitment towards the implementation of the action plan in spite of many challenges should be highly appreciated and commended.

With the implementation of this important scheme the waiting time for university entry will be reduced to a minimum. Sri Lanka will be on par with other nations with regard to the operation of higher education system. In 2002 and thereafter those who qualify for admission based on the April A/L examination will be admitted to all universities and other higher educational institutions in October the same year. This will continue uninterrupted with the implementation of fixed academic year effective from October 2002.

Admission process

The Department of Examinations and the Admission Division of the University Grants commission (UGC) also played a key role in this process. Department of Examinations is now fully equipped and computerized to cope up with the present situation. Its services are reliable, efficient and of international standard. As a result, the results of national examinations such as O/L and A/L examinations can be released within 3 months. The Department also maintains a web site through which the candidates can obtain their results.

Similarly the UGC Admission Division is also geared to finalise the admissions within a short period of time. Admission process is being computerized and this process will be completed soon. Then the admission lists can be displayed in the web sites and in addition the relevant lists can be transmitted to respective universities electronically, making the admission process highly efficient.

All these developments have been made simultaneously allowing the examination system and admission scheme to operate smoothly within the stipulated time period. Thus, the computerization and streamlining of the examination procedure and the admission schemes have contributed tremendously towards reducing the time lag.

Along with these changes the basis for university admission has also bee changed with effect from this year. Up to now aggregate of marks or the average was used as the basis of ranking students in each stream for the purpose of university admission. Use of aggregate marks or average marks to determine merit order has serious defects as pointed out by many educationists. In general, standardized marks are used all over the world in the selection of candidates to higher educational institutions. For example in USA, TOEFL, SAT, GRE, MCAT, etc, are all based on standardized schemes. Z scores scheme is a widely accepted statistical method for standardizing raw marks, particularly suitable for ranking candidates. Aggregate has now been replaced by Z score, as the basis for university admission. It has been proved that the ranking on this basis is more fair and highly reliable and it is considered as the best option available to minimize discrepancies in different subjects, variable marking, different curricula and number of subjects.

It should be realised that the shifting of A/L examination from August to April is only one step in a series of steps taken towards streamlining and reforming our higher education system in Sri Lanka. This step coupled with backlog clearance and the implementation of fixed academic year in the universities would rationalise our higher education system to a greater extent.

As a result of the implementation of this co-ordinated action plan, a child can now continue his or her education from primary through secondary to tertiary education without a time lag, devoid of any interruptions, while at the same time benefitting extensively from the new features introduced through reforms.

It also should be noted that this process was first announced in April 2000, even before the commencement of new A/L classes that year. The students, parents and teachers were well aware of this scheme and its benefits at the time the students commenced their A/L classes.

Unfortunately previous batches of students did not have this opportunity to save their valuable time in years. They have lost many years of their precious time. The new batches of students who are sitting the A/L in April this year and beyond are indeed a fortunate lot who would save at least 3 years of their prime life time which can be profitably used to further advance their professions, contributing towards national development.

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