The Grade Five Scholarship Exam and the GCE Advanced Level (A/L) examinations will be held as scheduled, Education Minister, Prof. G.L.Peiris said.
The Minister made this observation at a media conference held yesterday at the Government Information Department.
Accordingly the Grade Five Scholarship Examination will be held on October 11, and the Advanced Level Examinations will commence from October 12.
Prof. Peiris stressed that the examinations will be held under strict adherence to the COVID 19 preventive guidelines.
The Grade Five Scholarship Examination will be held at 2,936 centers for 331,000 candidates and 362, 000 candidates will sit for the GCE Advanced Level Examination conducted at 2,268 examination centers in the country.
He said special arrangements have been made for the students in Gampaha District who have to visit other districts daily and the students who will visit Gampaha district to sit for the exam. The special programme will be implemented with the assistance of transport authorities to provide safe transport facilities for them.
Prof. Peiris said that the decision to hold examinations on scheduled dates was reached after careful consideration and taking into account the fact that most students want the exams to go ahead.
Ministry Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera urged the public not to panic since both examinations will be held under the assistance of armed forces, health authorities and relevant other authorities. A discussion also held with a top official of the Elections Department since they held the recent election successfully adhering to COVID-19 healthcare guidelines.
Apart from that we too have to follow the “Access to Examinations Omit Disasters - Guidelines for Conducting Examinations in an Emergency” issued for 2020 by the Disaster Management Center.
He also said that special centers are scheduled to be established for students in quarantine to sit for the exams.Students sitting for the examinations will need to fill a form related to the health of the student, to be uploaded online before the exam.The form will be used to trace the student and those the student comes into contact with, in the event the student tests positive for the coronavirus later.
Grade 5 scholarship & GCE A/L exams will be held as scheduled [ 07-10-2020 Time 14 : 27 ]
The Grade 5 Scholarship and GCE Advanced Level Examinations of 2020 will be held as scheduled, considering the mental health of the students, said the Minister of Education Minister G L Peiris.
Special Covid-19 arrangements are to be made under strict health guidelines, he further stated. Exam Centers will also be installed for the students who are in quarantine.
