• Stalin notes Education Minister Susil said on multiple occasions that current allowance insufficient

Claiming that the allowance currently being paid to teachers and principals engaged in duties pertaining to the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A/L) examination is insufficient, the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) has requested the Ministry of Education for an increase of the same.

Speaking to the media yesterday (23), CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said: “The Education Minister (Attorney Dr. Susil Premajayantha) said on many occasions that the allowances paid to teachers and principals for examination-related duties will be increased, but there has been no increase to date. The A/L examination commenced today and the examination centres are functioning well. Teachers and principals hope to work co-operatively and assist in the conducting of the examination. With that in mind, we request the Ministry to increase the allowances paid to teachers and principals.”

He also said that the A/L examination, which was to be held in 2022, was postponed until January 2023 due to crises created by the Government. For instance, he said that schools were not able to function as required due to the shortage of fuel and economic and political crises that emerged in 2022. He also claimed that the Government is yet to provide solutions to the issues in the education sector, particularly the high cost of stationery and transport, which Stalin said have greatly affected students’ school attendance.

Secretary to the Ministry of Education M.N. Ranasinghe was not available for comment.

The A/L examination, at which a total of 331,709 school and private applicants will be assessed, commenced at 2,200 examination centres yesterday (23), and will end on 17 February. The Department of Examinations had, as of yesterday, distributed question papers sufficient for six days to all examination co-ordination centres, while the Police Department will make the necessary security arrangements during the period of examination.

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