GL announces postponement of O/L exam

By Saman Indrajith

Education Minister Professor G. L. Peiris told Parliament yesterday (1) that the GCE Ordinary Level Examination would not be held from Jan 18 to 27 as planned owing to the national health emergency.

Prof. Peiris said 621,000 students had applied for sitting the examination. Of the 10,165 schools in the country only 5,100 were open and it would be unfair by the students whose schools were closed to sit the examination, Prof. Peiris said.

He said the health situation in Sri Lanka would be reviewed every two weeks to decide if the examination could be held.

He said a new date would be announced six weeks ahead of the examination to allow candidates to prepare for the examination.

“This is a tough decision to make but we have to give priority to the safety of children. We successfully held the GCE Advanced Level examination which 362,000 candidates sat and the Grade Five scholarship examination which 326,000 students sat. Within 33 days we managed to release the results of the Grade Five examination although that usually takes around two to three months. Those were challenges we faced successfully. We will announce the new date for the GCE O/L examination as soon as the health authorities give the all-clear.”