Presidential Committee says officers to blame for GCE A/L results mess up

Failed to avoid the causes

January 14, 2012, 12:00 pm , The Island.

by Dasun Edirisinghe

The committee appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to inquire into the GCE (A/L) results mess up, has blamed officers responsible saying they had not taken adequate steps to avoid the causes that contributed to the error.

The committee has recommended the need to take several steps to enhance the capacity of the Examination Department to handle technology related activities and as an immediate measure, the services of a consultant be obtained to provide advice of technology related matters.

The error in calculating the district rankings had been caused at the last stage (processing stage) and not at the point of entering data, it says.

The committee has also recommended that matters relating software improvements should be examined. In particular, every revision of a computer programme and data processing, should be double checked, verified and validated before implementation.

It blamed officers responsible saying they had not taken adequate steps to avoid the causes that contributed to the error,

"An independent process Audit should be carried out to provide for continuous improvements of the entire examination process," it suggested adding it should ideally be carried out by the Ministry of Education.

Inquiries conducted regarding the specific appeals made by the candidates in response to the public call by the committee have been examined. The committee has found that there were no processing errors in those results.

The committee also proposed a special help line should be established to receive all the complaints and they should be addressed by

the department with extra concern caution to restore the credibility of the department.

It is must provide cadre and financial requirements to the Examinations Department to ensure optimum efficiency, the committee further recommended.

However, it says that the University Grants Commission should decide the Z score formula after careful and wide consultations.

The committee, chaired by the Secretary to the Ministry of Technological Research, Ms. Dhara Wijetillake, handed over its report to President Rajapaksa on Jan. 11. The other members of the committee were Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo Prof. Kshanika Hirimburegama, Vice Chancellor of the Moratuwa University, Prof. Ananda Jayawardena, Vice Chancellor of the Uva Wellassa University, Prof. Ranjith Premalal de Silva and Principal of the Royal College Upali Gunasekera.