• PUCSL requests uninterrupted power supply, CEB says funds insufficient
• Transport sector takes special measures to ensure students can sit for exams

The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A/L) examination, at which a total of 331,709 school and private applicants will be assessed, is scheduled to be held from today (23) to 17 February at 2,200 examination centres islandwide.

Speaking to the media yesterday (22), Commissioner General of Examinations Amith Jayasundara said that as of yesterday, question papers sufficient for six days have been issued to all examination co-ordination centres, and that the Department of Police will provide full security during the examination period.

He further stated that after discussions with the concerned institutions – the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), and the Lanka Electricity Company (LRCO) – regarding the continuous supply of electricity during the examination period, the said institutions had confirmed that electricity will be provided continuously during the relevant period. 

However, speaking to the media yesterday, PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said: “On 19 January, the CEB Chairman informed us in writing that a large cost would be incurred to supply electricity without any power cuts. As it is not possible to meet that cost, the CEB has not yet given us a proper answer on the matter. 

“However, we made a request that power cuts be minimised during the examination period. The Norochcholai Power Plant was activated yesterday (21), and fuel will not be needed to the extent mentioned by the CEB Chairman. These days, electricity consumption has decreased rapidly. Therefore, we are able to meet 95% of the required electricity capacity with hydropower, coal-fired, and renewable electricity generation methods.

“Therefore, the CEB should decide not to carry out power cuts as we have recommended. We also request the private sector, general public, and Government departments to reduce their electricity consumption to some extent during the examination period and provide the necessary support for this. If financial allocations are needed, the support of the General Treasury is also required. In this background, if necessary, the CEB can stop power cuts as we recommended, or power cuts can be reduced. We know that exams usually end by 3-5 p.m. Therefore, the CEB, if needed, can carry out power cuts from those times until 7 p.m., and not after then.”

The CEB had informed the PUCSL on 19 January that a situation had been created where continuous electricity supply cannot be ensured during the relevant period. In order to supply electricity without any scheduled power outages, it had informed the PUCSL that there was a need for a sum of about Rs. 4 billion, and that it was not possible to procure the said sum of money at the moment.

Meanwhile, speaking to the media, National Transport Commission Chairman Dr. Nilan Miranda said: “The Sisu Sariya service will be used to transport the students sitting the examinations. We have instructed the relevant depots to operate buses even if there is only one student. If the need arises, parents and teachers and staff of the examination centres can also travel by Sisu Sariya buses.”

When contacted by The Daily Morning, an official of the Department of Railways stated that the department had decided to operate 16 special trains from today onwards for students who will be sitting the examination.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Grade Five Scholarship, GCE O/L, and GCE A/L examinations were postponed in 2021 and 2022. Accordingly, both the Scholarship and A/L examinations, which are usually held in August each year, were postponed to December 2022. Following requests made by several parties to postpone the A/L Examination again, as the relevant syllabuses had not been covered in most schools by that time, it was again postponed to January 2023.

Meanwhile, a further 10 minutes is due to be added to the scheduled time for the upcoming 2022 GCE A/L examination.

This was confirmed by Commissioner General of Examinations H.J.M Amith Jayasundara during a media briefing held yesterday.

Accordingly, an extra 10 minutes will be added towards the end of the three-hour essay papers he said, asserting, however, that this additional time will not be provided for the multiple choice question papers.

Thus, the essay paper in which students have to choose a set number of questions to answer will now run for a period of three hours and 10 minutes.