Tabs for GCE A/L students from September- MoE
View(s):The delayed project to offer tabs to GCE Advanced Level (A/L) students will get underway in September this year, with the Ministry of Education (MoE) allocating Rs 4.1 billion for the project.
The tabs will be issued to 130,000 students who completed their GCE O/L in December last year and entered the A/L classes which commenced last month, according to Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. He said they hope to continue the programme every year where new tabs will be issued to students entering the A/L classes.
The tabs will remain a property of the school and used only in school. A teacher will be appointed to oversee the collection of the tabs and their safekeeping.
Minister Kariyawasam said the decision not to allow the students to take the tabs home, is to prevent the misuse of the tabs without proper supervision.
MoE Information Communication Technology Director P.N. Illeperuma told the Education Times that currently, they are in the process of providing the necessary infrastructure such as putting up ‘Charging’ points or introducing wireless ‘Charging” areas as required.
He said that Apps required for Science, Maths, Accounts, English Literature and other Languages, have been put in place.
He said that provision will be made for students to download the applications onto their phones or private computers, so that, they could make use of the facility at home.
Among the other provisions was to provide past question papers and model papers which the students could do and evaluate themselves by following the marking system.
The plan to provide tabs to students was one of the key proposals of the UNF government, but due to differences with President Maithripala Sirisena, the project was delayed, as the President wanted to conduct the scheme as a pilot project, which the UNF members were opposed to.