More ex-combatants to sit for ALs

Rasika Somarathna

A total of 302 ex- LTTE combatants will sit for the GCE Advanced Level Examination this August, Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe said.

Five females and 297 males who are under rehabilitation, would sit for the Advanced Level exam.

Three will sit for the exam in the maths stream, 12 in science, 57 in commerce and 230 in the arts stream.

According to Major General Ranasinghe, former combatants who sat for the GCE Advanced Level last year came up with very encouraging results with 62 percent passing the exam.

Last year, 222 out of 361 ex-combatants had passed the exam.

While 91 out of 176 who sat for the previous GCE Ordinary Level exam too were successful.

Special arrangements are in place to provide education to ex-combatants with separate sections to accommodate both girls and boys, according to the commissioner.

Earlier there had been two schools in Vavuniya to provide teaching facilities for them.

However this has now been reduced to one with the release of a large number of ex-combatants.