Z-score declared null and void

August 2011 GCE (A/L) results:

June 25, 2012, 9:49 pm 

Calls for Bandula and SB to resign

By Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

Soon after the Supreme Court ordered the University Grants Commission (UGC) to annul the 2011 GCE (A/L) examination Z-score calculation and to recalculate the score separately for the old and new syllabi, education sector trade unionists, students and civil society organisations called for the immediate resignation of ministers S. B. Dissanayake and Bandula Gunawardena from their portfolios of higher education and education respectively.

"This Supreme Court order is a victory not only for the students but also for the entire nation," Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, National Organiser of the JVP affiliated Socialist Students’ Union said. The order for the UGC to annul the ‘Z-score’ calculation 2011 and re-calculate Z-scores for both old and new syllabi separately and issue the results soon was most welcome at a time when ministers and some officials had done their utmost to destroy public trust in the country’s examination system, he said.

General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Service Union Mahinda Jayasinghe said that since December 26, 2011, the day the results of the last GCE (A/L) examination were released, the progressive forces of the country had rejected the results as they were erroneous. "We within two days called for its cancellation and re-calculation of the marks obtained by candidates. Then, these two ministers and their officials made the greatest possible effort to defend those flawed results. They said that there had been slight aberration in district ranking system and that could be rectified. They went to the extent of criticising and blaming us for pointing out the mistakes."

National Organiser of the People’s Movement for the Protection of Schools Dhammika Alahapperuma called the Supreme Court order a historic victory for future generation of Sri Lanka. "We call upon Ministers Bandula Gunawardena and S. B. Dissanayake to resign and go home if they have even an iota of shame left in them."