• Teachers and principals note challenges of conducting exams, including poorly designed exam halls, transportation shortages, and inclement weather

BY Sumudu Chamara After a long pause, the General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O/L) Examinations were held this year, and students who were distressed due to the disruption to their education could breathe a sigh of relief.  However, unlike in the pre-Covid-19 era, these exams were held amidst multiple challenges, and some of those challenges are yet to be addressed. These challenges came to light recently, when photos of an exam hall that was flooded during this rainy season were circulated on social media, prompting many to point fingers at the education authorities.  Exam amidst chaos Last week, speaking to the media, Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union (CTSU) General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe pointed out a number of issues exam invigilators and students faced, and how those issues have affected them. Noting that a considerable number of students did not sit for the exams due to various reasons, he said: “We saw the absence of students during the previous GCE Advanced Level (A/L) Examinations and also during the O/L Examinations. The authorities should conduct a survey and pay attention to students.” Transport-related issues faced by students and exam invigilators, caused by fuel scarcity and the rains in May, is another concern Jayasinghe raised. According to him, even though the CTSU had requested the authorities before the commencement of the exams to provide free-of-charge transport services for students sitting for the exams, no steps have been taken to provide such. However, he noted that taking into account transport-related difficulties, many school principals had assisted students who have to travel long distances to sit for the exams by allowing them to stay in school hostels during the exam season. Appreciating those school principals’ dedication, he added: “In a lot of provincial and national schools in Sri Lanka, there are hostel facilities. Even though they had the ability to provide hostel facilities to students facing the exams, the authorities did not do so. In fact, the CTSU continuously requested, including in writing, to provide the necessary facilities to students sitting for the exams and to teachers and principals and other staff engaged in exam-related duties, but the rulers did not pay attention. As a result, today, students have had to face various hardships during the exams.” Meanwhile, the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin, speaking to The Morning, spoke of unsuitable exam halls in which students have had to sit for the exams. He was of the opinion that this situation reflects that Sri Lanka’s school system is not up to standard, and that this is a massive issue. “The school system has not been renovated properly and school buildings have not been repaired properly. During the O/L exams that were held recently, there were instances where principals of some schools did not provide proper buildings for the exams. One reason was because some suitable classes and buildings had paintings and posters on their walls. In such cases, principals feared that those buildings would be damaged if they were used for the exams, and therefore refused to allow the exams to be held in those buildings. The inability to avail of such facilities affects children as well.” In addition to the above mentioned issues, concerns were also raised about the time of the year that these exams were held. Sri Lanka Professional Principals’ Association (SLPPA) President Sugeeshwara Wimalaratne told The Morning that unless under extremely special circumstances, holding an exam at this time of the year is unusual, and is not advisable due to this being a rainy season. He added: “This is not the usual time to hold an exam. Usually, the O/L Examinations are held in December, and other national exams such as the A/L and Grade Five Scholarship are held in August. We were not able to hold exams last year owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, and that is why the O/L Exams were scheduled to be held in May. May is usually a rainy season, and for many areas, floods and other rain-related difficulties have been observed during this time. Given this weather, holding the O/L Exams in May was an issue. The majority of schools in Sri Lanka, except those in main cities that are known as mainstream schools, have buildings which are not covered on both sides. Also, most of them do not have properly finished floors and drainage systems. Due to the rain, most of the time, water comes in, affecting children, and those near the walls get soaked.” He noted that this is however not the fault of the Examinations Commissioner General, the Education Ministry, or the exam invigilators, and that it is the fault of the manner in which Sri Lanka’s education system has been designed.   Payments for exam invigilators Delays in making payments and insufficient payments are other major issues faced by exam invigilators, which, according to the teachers’ and principals’ unions, have not been addressed yet despite various requests in that regard. They note that this is a pressing issue given the current economic situation in the country, and that it therefore requires the immediate attention of the education authorities. The delay in payments is an issue both Jayasinghe and Stalin highlighted. According to them, the relevant payments for exam invigilators who worked during the last A/L and Grade Five Scholarship Exams have not yet been made.  “Every year, funds are allocated through the Budget to conduct exams. Our question is, what happened to the money that was allocated?” Jayasinghe questioned, adding that exam invigilators performed exam duties amidst extreme hardships including the Covid-19 situation and high living costs, and that therefore, in this context, steps must be taken to pay the allocated money without any more delays.  This, according to him, has been informed to the education authorities in writing on many occasions. In this regard, Stalin said: “This is one of the most pressing issues we face. The money due to exam invigilators includes payments for the A/L and Grade Five Scholarship Exams. It is in a context where the payments related to those previous exams have not been made that exam invigilators engaged in the O/L Exams-related duties.  “The 517,000 students who sat for the O/L Exams had been affected by the fact that the exams were not held for two years. That is why we made this sacrifice. After the commencement of the exams, we saw a rapid increase in transport costs. The Examinations Commissioner General said that the fees for exam invigilators would be increased, but it did not happen so far. When we met with the Education Minister, he said that a Cabinet paper will be put forward to increase the payments. I think that we need around Rs. 900 million to pay for such payments for previous exams.” Urging the authorities to make the relevant payments immediately, Wimalaratne noted that the due payments include those for practical exams, written exams, and paper marking, and that this delay is not a normal situation.  He explained how teachers and school principals have had to spend their own money as exam invigilators: “Chief invigilators sometimes have to spend their own money for some activities for which the Government must spend. When it comes to halls in which more than 60 students are to be seated, we have to pay two labourers to arrange the exam hall. We pay Rs. 900 for each, or a total amount of Rs. 1,800, which comes from the chief invigilator’s pocket. We have to pay for refreshments and for exam paper transport costs as well.  “Usually, during nine-day-long exams, such an official spends at least Rs. 5,000 from his/her pocket, while for 22-day-long exams, they spend at least Rs. 10,000-15,000. This is because the Examinations Department or the Government does not allocate any funds for their wellbeing. In addition, if a student falls ill and money has to be spent for medicines or travelling-related needs, it is not possible to reimburse that money. Furthermore, if a necessity arises to take photocopies or print posters to be exhibited, money for such activities is usually spent from their pocket.” He expressed displeasure about payments being made after a long time in a context where exam invigilators have borne the above mentioned payments. In response to a question as to whether the payments are adequate, Wimalaratne said: “Usually, the exam begins at around 8.30 a.m., and the staff have to be present at the venue at around 7.30 a.m. in order to make the necessary arrangements. Most of the time, the exam finishes between 4.10 p.m. and 5.10 p.m., and the staff work for around eight-10 hours. For this, a labourer gets paid Rs. 1,100 a day, supervisors Rs. 1,700, an assistant chief invigilator Rs. 2,100, and a chief invigilator Rs. 2,400.  “In addition, a chief invigilator has to transport exam papers between the co-ordinating centre to the exam hall before and after an exam. A payment is made based on the number of kilometres that has to be travelled. This time, it was Rs. 250, and that is for a distance of up to 5 km. That is the minimum payment. For a distance between 5-10 km, the payment is Rs. 400. That is an amount that is not even sufficient to buy one litre of petrol. It does not match the current situation in a context where we spend a lot of money for the exams from our pocket. The price of everything has increased.  “At a time when the prices of all essentials have increased, doing exam duties for such an amount is extremely difficult. Those who engage in exam duties have had to spend half of that amount to reach schools. This is a huge responsibility, and exam invigilators are not properly compensated.” He added that the last payment hike was around two years ago. In addition, he noted that at a meeting scheduled for 9 June with Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha, it is expected to discuss these matters in order to get some relief. The two main concerns that require the authorities’ immediate attention, he said, are paying unpaid exam duty fees for past exams, and increasing those fees to match the current situation. The authorities’ response Although The Morning attempted to contact officials of the Education Ministry and the Examinations Department to discuss the above mentioned concerns, they were not reachable. However, during a press briefing held this week, Examinations Commissioner General, L.M.D. Dharmasena acknowledged the challenges faced by the authorities in holding the exams.  According to him, the recent exams were the most challenging to hold in Sri Lanka’s exams-related history due to challenges stemming from social and economic obstacles. He added: ”That is due to several reasons. Internally, we had various long-lasting administrative issues, due to some officers’ attendance-related issues which were in turn due to payment-related issues. There were also issues in the machines in the press, transport-related issues, and electricity-related issues. The department found it difficult to bear the high prices of some materials such as papers and ink. There were also times when we were uncertain as to whether we would be able to print exam papers for the O/L Exams. There were also external issues, as we were about to conduct the exams and among them were the country’s tense situation, electricity cuts, transport and fuel-related challenges, curfews, and floods. However, amidst those challenges, officials finished that task.” While the issues mentioned in this article need to be addressed promptly, without the authorities’ response as to what steps are being taken to address them, we do not know how long they will take. However, in a context where both the students and exam invigilators are being affected by those issues, it is crucial that they be resolved before the next national exam.