'Come what may, GCE A-L exam will be held in time'

Nethali STRUYS

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena emphasized that there would not be any delays whatsoever in the G.C.E A-L examination which was to be held this August, is to the withdrawal of academics from this year's A-L evaluations.

The Minister was addressing a media briefing yesterday at the Education Ministry. He further said that he strongly believed that no academics would use innocent school students to achieve their targets.

"We are all beneficiaries of free education, even the academics. They have always contributed in preparing and evaluating after the correction of exam papers at a very low price rate," he said.

He assured that he would not let anyone make use of students as a cat's paw. The government would do everything possible to hold the A-L examination on time, to have the evaluation process accordingly and to release the results as early as possible.

He requested students and parents not to have any doubts concerning the examination that was to be held this August.

The Minister stated that if the academics were to withdraw from their services, the education department was still able to hold the examination without hold backs. "The Examination papers were already prepared. There was enough and more qualified volunteers to participate in A-L answer script evaluations, so there was no shortage of evaluators," he said.

The 2011 A-L examination was to commence on August 8 and the evaluation process is scheduled to be initiated during the third week of August. According to the Examinations Department the highest number of students (272,000) have applied to sit for the 2011 A-L examination, which is history.

The Minister requested all media and responsible authorities, not to panic the innocent, hard working, frustrated students, so that they would be able to prepare and face the examination in a positive mind.