Students agony deepens amid delays in exams, paper marking

Trade union action by university lecturers boycotting GCE (A/L) paper marking may be nearing an end, but the impact of the postponement remains long-lasting.

A meeting between the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) and President Ranil Wickremesinghe is likely to take place next week to officially call off the boycott.

The move comes amidst counter plans by the Education Ministry to go ahead with paper marking. The plan includes recruitment of retired educational officers. The Education Ministry website said retired officials can apply as examiners through the website https://onlineexams.gov. lk/eic/index.php/clogin/

However, FUTA has raised objections to the move.

FUTA Spokesman Charudatta

Ilangasinghe said if retired lecturers and other parties were involved in paper marking, it would violate the quality and transparency of the process. Then, the lecturers would refuse to accept those results.

But Government Medical Officers Forum President Dr Rukshan Bellana said they were capable of marking Advanced Level papers. This is because they are already involved in marking papers of medical students and postgraduate students. He states that almost all specialists have doctorates adding: “People with doctorates are not only within universities.”

In addition, doctors are also professionals in other fields such as Management, Law and CIMA and thereby can mark papers not only concerned with Science stream. “When considering all this, marking papers is not a big deal,” he said, accusing FUTA of having conducted a conspiracy and committing actions unsuitable for them.

The next week's meeting comes after two months of dispute, causing the GCE (O/L) examination to be postponed by another two weeks, in addition to previous postponements.

A string of issues have arisen due to the delay in paper marking.

The Lanka Nippon Biz Tech Institute (LNBTI), which offers courses in collaboration with Japanese universities, has shifted enrollment to mid-June and the courses are to start in July.

The first batch after Advanced Level is supposed to be enrolled in October and the second batch after results are released in February. However, this year the first batch only started in April, while they cannot predict the start of the second batch due to the current issue with results.

Nadeeka Dilrukshi, Senior Marketing Executive, Student Enrollment, LNBTI said students have lost trust in the education system. They have observed an increase in students enrolling in their courses after Ordinary Level, including students of major Colombo schools and children of university lecturers.

“Since we provide a job in Japan, and since most youth are hoping to migrate due to the unstable situation in the country, students have increased,” she pointed out.

The constant postponements have also seen a change in the ages of students enrolling in courses.

As a result of delays in holding exams and releasing results, the average age of Advance level student has increased to 20-21 from 19, while the average age of the Ordinary Level student has increased to 17 from 16.

“We prepare students for the Japanese workforce, and even in the normal system Lankan students are generally one year older than a Japanese student,” she added. Havipriya Kamalanadhan, Senior Secretary, Education Incentive Association, said the postponement of Advanced Level and Ordinary Level exams (and results) is putting pressure on students economically and psychologically. Students are losing focus and proper targets in life, which has caused depression among students.

“If this continues with universities getting delayed as well, students would be 30 when they graduate from university,” she added.

Some rural students still have to continue their education online, where they lack the facilities to do so. Students displaced from the civil war suffer from other additional economical and psychological issues.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said in Parliament on Tuesday that paper marking of 10 subjects started on April 24.

The Minister also expected to increase the number of paper marking divisions. “I saw this problem coming two months ago and took every measure I can take,” he said.