Intellectual committee to deal with math failures

A committee of intellectuals was appointed by Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena to suggest ways of dealing with the issue of students who fail in mathematics at the GCE (O Level) Examination, the ministry said yesterday.

The committee comprising 10 university professors and doctors is to look into the plight of students who fail mathematics and to submit a report with recommendations to the minister within 60 days. The ministry says that 71 percent of students had failed the subject in 1995 and some 280,000 students aged 15 years had to leave school. “Although the percentage was reduced to 42.77 in 2013, 112,000 students were compelled to stop higher education because they failed in mathematics,” the minister said.