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Special intake to three universities

by Manjula Fernando

The University Grants Commission will send the special intake of 2001 repeat medical students to Jaffna, Sri Jayawardenapura and Kelaniya Medical Faculties.

Education Minister Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku said yesterday that he obtained approval to a Cabinet paper on Wednesday to provide relief to 222 A/L students who repeated the exam in August 2001 under the old syllabus.

According to the Cabinet paper 47 repeat students will be admitted to Medical Colleges. There will be 67 new entrants who were overlooked before.

The Minister said: "It is reasonable for the students to be frustrated against the establishment given that they have not been properly notified of the change in the selection method."

He said a Parliamentary Select Committee represented by all parties will review the Z-score. Academics, students and interested parties will have the opportunity to express their opinion on the Z-score before the Committee. The Minister is to make a proposal in this regard to the Speaker next month. They are required to hand over their report in three months.

He said: "The previous government attempted to make several changes simultaneously. Before 1999, university selection was based on the aggregate. In 2000 it was replaced with average marks and in 2001 the Z-score was introduced. The number of subjects was also reduced to three in 2000. This was too much for the students and resulted in a stir."

The Minister said any future changes will be given wide publicity. However, he emphasised that a decision has not yet been taken to replace the Z-score. "It will be based on the recommendations of the Select Committee."

He also ruled out the possibility of a change in the selection method for next year.

A group of Bio Science students launched a continuous protest campaign in front of the University Grants Commission demanding justice. Over 100 students from schools islandwide took turns to participate in this protest.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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