The O/L exam is one of the milestones in child’s life. It will decide their future. So the circumstances which has mentioned bellow were very unfortunate.

Lanka Truth has reported the staff of the examination centre at Kannangara Maha Vidyalaya at Mathugama had a difficult time due to insufficient number of English II question papers sent to the center. Only 20 question papers had been sent to 30 candidates sitting at the center.

When the staff sought advice from the Department of Examination they had been asked to get extra question papers, if there were any, from the closest center or to get the question paper photo copied secretly. However, the staff was able to make arrangements to conduct the examination without any discomfort for the candidates.  

Lanka Truth has also reported there hasn’t been one standard for the mathematics question paper set for G.C.E O/L examination that is being held at present say reports. The examination is held under two syllabuses and different marks and times have been allocated for parallel question in the two question papers set under two syllabuses say these reports.

The 5th question in part two of the old syllabus and 8th question in part b of the new syllabus are the same. Similarly, the third question in the graphs section in the old syllabus and 2nd question in section ‘a’ of the new syllabus are the same. However, 18 minutes and 14 marks have been allocated for the answers in the old syllabus while only 12 minutes and 10 marks have been allocated for the new syllabus.

As candidates sitting the examination in the two syllabuses are evaluated using these marks the students answering the examination using the new syllabus is at a disadvantage. When ‘Lankatruth’ inquired from the convener of the Inter Universities Students’ Federation (IUSF) Udul Premaratne, he said the Ministry of Education has intentionally created such a situation to unsettle the students.

Speaking further Mr. Premaratne said, “From the beginning of this year we asked the ministry to make available a model question paper for the new syllabus. This was not fulfilled. Later we were told that the question papers for the third term test would be prepared according to the new syllabus. That paper was not set properly and negligence such as including answers to questions in the question paper itself was noted. There were also irregularities in the distribution of the question paper. As a result the students couldn’t get a correct assessment regarding the new syllabus. In the end it is the future generation that has been penalized. Hence, we, as the Inter Universities Students’ Union, condemn this irresponsible act of the Ministry of Education.”

There had been many instances where negligence, blunders, oversights have occurred in term tests held by provincial councils. G.C.E. O/L is a turning point for hundreds of thousands of students in this country. Hence, creating confusion at this level would be destructive for the country.