G.C.E. O/L for second time in Chennai

The Department of Examinations on the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa will hold the G.C.E. Ordinary Level Examination for the second time in Chennai from December 10 to December 20 with the assistance of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

The examination which is held for the benefit of displaced Sri Lankan students, who have been arriving in Tamil Nadu as refugees from January 2006, was held in 2006 which was the first time this examination was held abroad, following the directive of President Rajapaksa.

In an unprecedented move, the President not only granted approval for the examination to be held abroad, but also issued a special message to the students prior to the examinations, wishing them all success.

The idea to conduct this examination in Chennai, which is crucial for the future of all Sri Lankan students to either continue their education or to seek employment, was first mooted on September 21, 2006.

The examination which was held successfully in 2006 with 98 students, triggered another request from the Sri Lankan refugee community in Tamil Nadu for the examination to be held again in 2007 in order to allow new students and a few students who were unable to complete the examination last year, to sit for this examination in 2007 in Chennai. This year 105 students from the Sri Lankan refugee community will sit for this examination in Chennai.

They will be among the 529,120 students appearing for this examination in Sri Lanka from all parts of the country.

The Ministry of Education, Ministry of Nation Building and the Department of Examinations in Sri Lanka and the Ministry of School Education in Tamil Nadu have all played an important part in making the holding of this examination possible in Chennai, for the second consecutive year states a press release from the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai.