A/L disruption with polls activities will be severely dealt with: Elections Dept.

The Dept of Elections will take strict action against any candidate who disrupts the GCE Exam proceedings, to be held on a staggered basis due to the elections, Education Times learns.

The exam will commence on August 4 as scheduled and continue till August 13, when it will take a break for the elections, recommencing on August 24 and continue till September 8.

Speaking to Education Times, Additional Commissioner of Elections, U. Amaradasa said all election candidates had been informed the Department would take strict action against those who disrupt exam proceedings.

“If we are notified that the exam is being interrupted due to political campaigning, we will immediately deploy a team to normalise the situation. and take strict legal action against the perpetrators,” he said.

Meanwhile, several Education unions raised concerns that the upcoming polls would have a negative impact on students, but the concerns were brushed aside.

Speaking to Education Times, Ceylon Teacher Services Union, General Secretary, Mahinda Jayasinghe alleged that, apart from the mental stress the candidates are undergoing due the change in the timetable, the run up to the polls would also be a severe distraction.

Mr. Jayasinghe said the students need an environment free from distraction in the lead up to the exam, as well as during the exam, but with an election campaign in full swing, there are likely to be disruptions.

“Politics is being talked about everywhere. Perhaps there may be several political debates in the candiate’s own household. This can be a severe distraction and i t ’ s only natural, as most Advanced Level students are eligible to vote,” he said.

He said the Unions had written to President Maithripala Sirisena on June 4, urging him to ensure that the elections are held either before or after the exams. But no action had been taken in this regard.

“In countries such as India, elections are postponed because of exams. But in Sri Lanka it is the complete opposite,” Mr. Jayasinghe said.

“When it was announced that the exam would be held in two stages, we expressed concern over the timetable set . However, after taking our observations into consideration, the Commissioner changed the timetable to better suit the students,” Mr. Jayasinghe said.

The Unions however, slammed both the previous and the present Governments for their failure to take the exams into consideration before calling for the elections.

“This kind of thing has happened in the past” Ceylon Teacher’s Union President, Joseph Stalin observed, adding that, election propaganda activities at that time too had severely disrupted exam proceedings.

“For example, North, NorthCentral, Wayamba, Sabaragamuwa, Uva and Eastern Provincial Council elections were also held during the Advanced Level exams under the previous regime . These we noted severely hindered the exams in those areas,” he said.

“When it was announced that the exam would be held in two stages, we expressed concern over the timetable set .However, after taking our observations into

consideration, the Commissioner changed the timetable to better suit

the students,”