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A/L: One or two exams?
By Sachitra Mahendra
Administrative problems are expected to crop up if the GCE A/L examination is held in April and again in June for tsunami-affected candidates, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said. "At the moment we have to decide whether the examination should be held only in June or in both months." Prof. L. L. Ratnayake, UGC Vice-Chairman told The Sunday Times.

Top Education officials are due to meet tomorrow to discuss the matter. According to Prof. Ratnayake, some of the affected candidates are not from the disaster areas, but happened to be vacationing in those areas at the time.

"The main problem is that we haven't got an exact estimate of the number of affected candidates. Without getting the exact details, a firm conclusion cannot be arrived at as to how we are going to conduct the examination in June." Prof. Ratnayake said.

There is also the problem of examiners having to mark papers on two occasions. This would mean granting more leave for those teachers. Meanwhile, Examinations Commissioner Anura Edirisinghe said the examination is more likely to be held in June.

"We are still getting information. We haven't yet set a date, though the exam is scheduled to be held in June." he said. He said the government decides the date for the exam and the Department's responsibility is to conduct it.

"It is government and the UGC that make the decisions. We conduct the exam on the date decided by the government. If the government asks us to conduct it only in June, we have to do so," he said. The application forms for the June exam will be sent to Provincial Educational Offices and Zonal Education Offices to be provided to both private and school candidates next week.

The completed applications of the candidates will be tallied with their previous applications and their signatures compared as some have lost birth certificates and identity cards. The approximate number of affected candidates is said to be 3000. According to the available figures, the highest number of affected candidates is 420 from Ampara, where there are likely to be seven examination centres. The least number of affected candidates, 32, are from Galle, with only three examination centres.

There are no affected candidates from Puttalam. The affected districts where the June exam is to be held are Ampara, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Hambantota, Kalutara, Galle and Matara.

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