13 December 2014 10:33 am
According to Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin, a significant number of O/L candidates in the North Central province who were sitting for the history paper on December 11 had been late for the examination due to the lack of transportation as the buses had been deployed to transport crowds to the inaugural rally of the UPFA.
“We hear that every bus depot in the North central province had been instructed to provide 50 buses each to transport crowds for the rally on Wednesday (10) night. As a result, students who reside in the rural areas were unable to make it to the city to arrive at their respective examination halls on time,” he said.
Mr. Stalin stated that they have also received complaints of students being disturbed while facing the examination paper ni several other parts of the country, due to campaigning rallies or meetings being held in the vicinity of examination halls.
Teacher unions point out that this situation is a result of allowing astrologers to decide on election dates instead of taking the practicalities into account.
“Except for President Rajapaksa who initiated his election campaigning six months ahead, all other candidates have only about a month to do engage in their campaigning activities. When the election dates were announced, they were well aware that the O/L examination is held in the days leading up to the election. This only reflects on the disregard this government and its leader holds for the examination process and the future of the students,” Mr. Stalin said. (Lakna Paranamanna)