Expert Comm. appointed to advise UGC on ‘Z-score’ - SB

July 4, 2012, 12:00 pm 

By Saman Indrajith, the island

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissnayaka told Parliament yesterday that a three-member expert committee had been appointed to advise the University Grants Commission (UGC) on how to implement the directive of the Supreme Court on the calculation of the Z score.

"The UGC is working expeditiously to implement the Court’s directive and I can assure your that university admission will begin without delay once this  matter is sorted out," the Minister said in response to a statement made by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Supreme Court last week ordered that the Z-score be calculated separately for students who sat for the GCE (A/L) examination under the new and old syllabi in 2011.

The Opposition Leader in his statement welcomed the Supreme Court ruling.

"The ruling given by the Supreme Court for rectifying the injustice caused to the children through separate Z score calculations for the two syllabi should be appreciated. It has opened an opportunity to rectify the injustices caused by the Government, Ministers and those who are responsible," Wickremesinghe said.

He noted that now another group of students were undergoing injustices due to the conceited and baseless measures followed by the Government and Ministers, i. e. the students who qualified for admission to the universities through those erroneous Z-score calculations.

He requested the government to take immediate action to introduce measures which would cause no injustice to any students who had been selected to the university as a result of the erroneous Z-Score.