GCE A/L: RESIDENTS IN STRUGGLE TO STOP OUTSIDERS SITTING EXAM IN NUWARA ELIYA

Nuwara Eliya residents yesterday met at the Town Hall to decide on how best to prevent the ongoing illegal admission, to schools in the Nuwara Eliya District, of students from other districts seeking undue advantage when it came to university admissions.

Attorney Gamini Senanayake, the convener of the Organization to Protect the Right to Education of Children in the Nuwara Eliya District, said it was the duty of all those concerned to campaign against the ongoing racket that would jeopardize the future of the children in the Nuwara Eliya District. “I understand that several children from other districts travelling in luxuryvehicleshavecome to Nuwara Eliya to sit the GCE A/L examination. One of them had rented a room for Rs.40,000. A girl sitting the examination in the science stream is known to have been staying with her parents in a hotel paying a total of Rs.60,000 at the rate of Rs.4,000 for their 15-day stay. Her mother is a senior official in the education sector. The authorities have arbitrarilychangedeventhe examination circular for the benefit of their children. The loopholes in the circular has resulted in this malpractice. Investigations have revealed such irregularities in 15 schools in the district. This racket has been in operation for a long time with parents spending as much as Rs.500,000 to gain this unfair and unjust

A girl sitting the examination in the science stream is known to have been staying with her parents in a hotel paying a total of Rs.60,000 at the rate of Rs.4,000 a day for their 15-day stay

advantage for their children. Severalseniorofficialsand even the politicians are responsible for the racket,” Mr. Senanayake said.

Nu w a r a El i y a Sasanarackshaka Balamandala President Ven. Uduwe Damminda, Ven. Makandure Rathana Thera and former Nuwara Eliya Mayor Mahinda Dodampegama addressed the gathering.