Drop in science results

Dailymirror

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane, yesterday, faulted university  academics for what he described as ‘setting question papers outside the  scope of the science and math syllabuses’, for the last G.C.E. (Advanced Level) Examination. Mr. Gunawardane told Daily Mirror that both school and private candidates  had found it difficult to answer such questions, and eventually, it had led to  a drop in results.  He said that only around 40 percent of the students who  sat the examination in these two streams had passed. The minister stressed that questions should be set so that they would  be easy for students to fathom. The Education Ministry has already instructed the Department of Examinations to maintain open communication with question  paper setters, and instruct them to stick to the framework of the  syllabuses in future. “We have done this on the past two occasions. Yet the university  academics who set the papers have ignored it.  They have to be  mindful of the syllabuses and the number of periods allotted for  teaching them. Also, they should give mind to the textbooks,  model questions and answers available to students. In the commerce  stream, our instructions had been followed. Therefore as many as  72 percent of the students passed the examination this time,” said Mr. Gunawardane. Compared to international examinations, he said, Sri Lanka’s Ordinary  Level and Advanced Level Examinations are too advanced for the students. “We want to encourage students to choose science and math for their  Advanced Level studies.  Currently, only 21 percent of the students  choose these two streams. It should be increased to 40 percent.   The number opting for the commerce stream should be upped from  the present 27 percent to 35 percent. As many as 51 percent of students  select the arts stream,” he said. The Ven. Yalwela Pannasekara, the president of Sri Lanka  United Teachers’ Union said the quality of Sri Lanka’s examinations  was universally recognised, and, therefore, it was not advisable to  make the question papers easier.  “It will increase the number of students who pass the examination,  but the quality will be questionable,” he said. (Kelum Bandara)

‘Z – Score’ cut off marks released

February 10, 2013, 10:40 pm , The Island

by Dasun Edirisinghe

The much delayed ‘Z–score’ cut–off marks, for admission of students to universities, based on the GCE (Advanced Level) examination 2011 results, were released online by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Saturday night.

Secretary of the Higher Education Ministry Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne told The Island that the cut-off marks had been released on the UGC website www.ugc.ac.lk as it had already been delayed by one year.

Normally, in previous years, the ‘Z-score’ cut–off marks were released to the media first, Dr. Navaratne said.

University admissions, based on GCE (A/L) examination 2011, were delayed due to a Supreme Court order which stipulated that the Z-score rankings for old and new syllabi be prepared separately, following a petition filed by some students.According to the SC order, an additional 5,609 students should be admitted to universities and the total intake increased to 28,000 with those additional students.

Normally, the students were admitted to universities in October, but the new intake could be admitted only by the end of March, Dr. Navaratne said.

He said that the third batch of leadership training programme would commence tomorrow. Two batches had successfully completed the programme.

Cartoon of the day

Dailymirror