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O/L students, exam officers allowed to bypass fuel queues

23 May 2022

  • Education Minister requests public to consider matter humanely
  • No power cuts during exam period
  • 15 prison inmates to sit for exam
By Pamodi Waravita and Dinitha Rathnayake  Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said yesterday (22) that measures have been taken to ensure that children sitting for the G.C.E. Ordinary Level (O/L) examinations, which begin today (23), as well as exam service officers, will be able to obtain fuel on a priority basis from fuel stations.  “The biggest problem is the petrol and diesel issue. I spoke to the nine provincial governors yesterday (21) and asked them to inform fuel filling stations about the examination period. If the examination identification, exam service letter, or admission card is shown at a filling station, then these consumers can be prioritised. Each filling station may not receive more than, most likely, 15 consumers like this on a priority basis,” said Premajayantha at a media briefing yesterday.  He asked the public to consider this matter humanely. “Please allow them to get fuel accordingly. We know you have been without petrol for three or four days now. But we have asked that this be regarded as an essential service. Let us give them priority on the basis of humanity,” he requested.  The O/L examinations were due to be held in December 2021, but were postponed due to the interruptions that the education sector faced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, 517,496 students are expected to sit for their O/L exams at 3,844 exam centres islandwide from today onwards.  Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves reached historic lows this year, with little to no money left for the import of essential items, including fuel. Last week saw some of the worst fuel queues in the country so far, with the public having to endure fuel queues which last days to obtain a rationed amount of fuel for their vehicles. Serious concerns have arisen about how this would affect students sitting for their examinations from this week till 1 June. Meanwhile, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) said yesterday (22) that power outages will not occur after 6.30 p.m. during the G.C.E. Ordinary Level (O/L) examination period from today (23) to 1 June. “During the exam period, there won’t be power cuts after 6.30 p.m. This is to help students study at night with an uninterrupted power supply. There is water needed for this at the hydro power stations, and the Water Management Secretariat of the Mahaweli Authority has given us this,” said PUCSL Chairman Janaka Rathnayake, addressing a media briefing held yesterday.  Unit One of the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai faced a breakdown earlier this month, which led to its shutdown. Rathnayake said that this unit will re-enter the national grid today (23) following repairs, thus adding 260 MW to the grid.  “It is being tested now and by tomorrow midnight we hope that it will reenter the grid. Without it, we would have needed about 10,000 metric tonnes of diesel for this exam period,” he added.  Rathnayake also made a “kind request from the public” that protests not be conducted obstructing roads during the examination times, to enable students to travel freely.  Sri Lanka has been facing hours-long daily power outages over the past two months, as the economic crisis has restricted fuel supply to the thermal power stations in the country. During the worst of the power crisis in March, consumers faced nearly 13 hours of power cuts per day. Meanwhile, Fifteen prison inmates will sit for the G.C.E. Ordinary Level (O/L) Examination, including one inmate from Welikada Prison, four LTTE special inmates from the New Magazine Prison, and 10 young offenders at the Watareka Sunitha Prison School. Speaking to The Morning, Ministry of Prisons Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation Affairs and Prisons Media Department Spokesperson Chandana Ekanayake stated that the inmates will sit for the examination today (23) at the examination centres at the New Magazine Prison and the Sunitha School at Watareka Prison. Chandana Ekanayake added that prison inmates sit for the O/L examination every year, and are encouraged to obtain an education while being rehabilitated.  “Classes, books, the O/L syllabus, and other facilities are received by the inmates in the Watareka Sunitha Prison School – the country's first prison school declared open in Watareka in Homagama in 2014.”  English and vocational training classes are also a part of the process, said Ekanayake. Inmates who have not sat for G.C.E O/L and Advanced Level (A/L) examinations will be allocated to the school and the main objective of these schools is to provide a proper education for those aged between 18 and 30.  Last year, two LTTE cadres passed the O/L examination and in 2017, 11 out of 21 prison inmates who sat went on to pass the exam. Indika Bamunusinghe, a prison inmate on death row received his master’s degree at the Kelaniya University convocation, which was held at the BMICH in 2019. He is the first in Sri Lanka and fifth in the world to obtain a master’s degree during a term of imprisonment. He was serving life imprisonment after being sentenced to death.  Bamunusinghe graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Degree Programme in Social Sciences from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in 2017 and started preparing to read for his Master’s at the Kelaniya University.  


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