Delayed O/L exams will start tomorrow in 3568 centres

Preparations are underway for the Ordinary Level (O/L) examination starting tomorrow.

The Department of Examinations will conduct the General Certificate Examination (GCE) O/L for 2022 (2023) from tomorrow till June 8 countrywide. This will cover both the old and new O/L syllabi. There will be 3,568 centres for 472,553 candidates. For the duration 38 education divisions have been established.

Applications seeking examiners to mark answer scripts were called this week, Commissioner General of the Department of Examinations Amith Jayasundara told the

Sunday Times. They would be paid on par with Advanced Level (A/L) answer scripts markers who are being paid Rs 2,000 per day, he said.

Paper is being imported but is costlier, Mr. Jayasundara said. In March last year, several exams were put off because of a paper shortage.

Exam halls are now being readied despite many problems, said chairman of the Principals’ Service Union D. M.Sunil Premathilake. Some principals have been spending their own money to claim it later from the Government.

“The Government compensates us with only Rs. 800 to Rs. 900, but the labourers want at least Rs. 2,000,” he said. “We have to also replace bulbs.”

The allowance for invigilators of the previous A/L exams has not been paid in some schools. “Principals and teachers invigilate to earn some extra money in these hard times. For the sake of students, we will do exam duty despite all these issues,’’ Mr. Premathilaka said.

All Island Teachers Union chairman Ven. Yalwela Pagnasekara Thera said teachers will not be inconvenienced in marking O/L papers since the exam centres will be in their areas.

But, he said the allowance should be increased, though not to the level of the A/L answer scripts markers as they had more to assess. He expects the distorted examination schedule to be rationalised by next year.

Separately, the rapid resurgence of dengue is being addressed. In a report by the National Examinations Emergencies Operation Unit for the 2022 (2023) O/L exam, the National Dengue Control Unit has advised officials to “ensure that preventive measures with regard to dengue is taken at examination centres and surrounding areas’’ before the exams.

Public Health Inspectors will assist principals or education official who make a request from the Ministry of Health, said secretary of the Public Health Inspectors Union S. I. Bopitiyage.