Postponement of A/L Exams for the Entire Country
Secretary,
Ministry of Education,
2nd floor,
Isurupaya,
Pelawatte
Baddaramulla.
Dear Dr. Tara De Mel,
We wish to draw your attention to the extremely difficult circumstances that face students scheduled to sit the 2005 Advanced Level (A/L) examinations in Sri Lanka. You may already be aware of some of these and may be taking steps to address these concerns. We urge you to consider also the following when determining policy decisions in relation to the A/L exams. Discussions about the upcoming A/L exams have centred around the situations of students directly affected by the tsunami. We wish to point out that the picture is more complex. From our experience in the affected areas of Sri Lanka, the following issues have arisen for different groups of A/L students:
Students affected directly by the tsunami had experienced horrific incidents during the tsunami disaster and very difficult circumstances in its aftermath. These place a huge daily emotional and psychological burden upon students. Examples of these may be found below:
The loss of family members (in some instances entire families), close relatives and people who support their education – with emotional, social and material consequences;
The loss of homes and consistent shelter; still being moved around and no possibilities of regular study;
Having to take on new roles as heads of their families, have to become breadwinners; have to take on responsibility for obtaining relief items for themselves and families (filling up forms and spending long periods of time waiting in queues to obtain relief items and food); having to make plans on behalf of family for shelter and livelihoods – all significantly time-consuming and burdensome tasks for a young adult.
The loss of all educational materials (notes, handouts and books relevant to the past two years of study). Where students have been able to return to school, their lack of uniforms and shoes has often resulted in humiliation and penalization by principals and school teachers.
Anticipation of the extremely competitive A/L examination with the fear that because of the disruption of their education and lives they will be at a disadvantage in relation to the other students who will sit the exam. This is a source of intense anxiety and worry.
Students affected indirectly
The effects of the tsunami range much wider than the persons who lost family or property to the tidal wave. One major impact of the disaster was the disruption of local economies that impacted powerfully on the livelihoods of daily wage earners and others within informal employment. Families affected in this way were not recognized as legitimate recipients of relief or other benefits, and therefore have suffered greatly since the tsunami. This has impacted strongly on the capacity of students in such families to maintain the educational practices required to perform optimally at the upcoming A/L exam.
Students ‘unaffected’ by the tsunami
Since the 26th of December to date, students identified as unaffected by the tsunami have had their education disrupted. During the first two weeks after the tsunami, normal school curricula were suspended as teachers and students were mobilized to intervene on behalf of affected populations. Although schools have resumed a semblance of normal activity in areas unaffected by the tsunami, the effects of the disruption (in terms of productive classroom time and focused studying by the students) still persist. To compel students who have shown much dedication to social service over the past month to now sit the A/L exam in April would be to penalize them for their civic-mindedness and would undermine this valuable social commodity for the future.
Postponement of A/L Exams for the Entire Country
There have been announcements in the media that the Ministry of Education plans to conduct two separate A/L exams, one in April for students in non-affected areas and another in June for those in affected areas. We are concerned that conducting two separate exams for ‘affected’ and ‘unaffected’ students would not be a feasible solution to the difficulties faced by students. Under the current marking system (which uses ‘Z’ scores to determine the relative achievements of students), it will not be technically correct to compare the results of two distinct examinations for competitive entrance into University. Such measures would surely be the subject of legal challenges. In addition, the extra costs involved in conducting two examinations would be significant, and such funds may be better spent in improving the educational services being provided to students in the run-up to the A/L exam. The administrative difficulties in distinguishing between the ‘affected’ and ‘unaffected’ students will leave the process of local registration wide open to fraud and corruption. Ultimately, the fact that the education of some students in areas not-affected has also been disrupted in certain ways is yet another reason to avoid an artificial distinction between the students awaiting the A/L exam in 2005.
There is a strong precedent for postponement of A/L examinations in the event of important national and regional events. In 2004, the A/L examination was rescheduled from April to May in order to accommodate the National General Elections. Earlier, in 1996, the exam was postponed by one month due to power cuts that primarily affected urban areas (particularly the capital Colombo). Given the unprecedented scale of the tsunami disaster of 26th December 2005 and the effects it has had on students (described above), it seems only fair that the Ministry of Education strongly considers the possibility of postponing the A/L exam for all students in Sri Lanka until August 2005. There must also be consideration and remedial action taken for other students who will face competitive examinations (i.e. Year 5 scholarship, O/L and A/L 2006).
Students need clear reassurances that measures will be taken to enable them to return to education and have an opportunity to sit the A/L exam on a fair and equal basis with their peers elsewhere in the country. They need semi-permanent/permanent shelter; an efficient mechanism for relief distribution that reduces the time spent in obtaining relief; study materials (photocopied notes, stationary, desks, school uniforms, shoes – these materials should be sourced at a local level in order to avoid long delays in distribution from the centre to the periphery); resumption of normal classes and supplementary teaching to help students review subject matter covered prior to the tsunami and catch up time lost over the past month. Students must be clearly informed of plans on their behalf and these plans must be followed through.
We thank you in advance for your consideration of the issues outlined above, and look forward to a public announcement of your interventions on behalf of students affected by a terrible natural disaster and now in danger of being disadvantaged by an avoidable educational tragedy.
Concerned Citizens on Behalf of A/L Students 04.02.2005
* Ministry of Education-Fax No: 011 2785162
Postponement of A/L Exams for the Entire Country
An Open Letter to Secretary of Education Dr. Tara De Mel
Name Occupation Signature
Concerned Citizens on Behalf of A/L Student
