The Education Ministry has decided to cancel the controversial Maths O/L Exam paper if the failure rate increases to 70 percent or introduce a new marking scheme for the paper giving the students some relief.
O/L Exam students sitting under the new syllabus had to face their worst nightmare when they sat for the Maths paper this time as they found the questions extremely confusing and difficult to answer in the given time.
“We have understood that the time limit was not enough for the students as previously one hour was given for Paper I and three hours for Paper II. But under the new syllabus two hours were given for both Paper I and II. Therefore students answering Paper II had to face difficulties through lack of time,” Ministry Secretary Nimal Bandara said.
He said the Ministry accepts that instead of direct questions the majority were long questions that needed time to understand and answer.
“Most students were mentally depressed after answering the paper so we have directed the Exams Commissioner to give some reasonable relief to the students. We might consider giving an ‘A’ pass for getting 70 marks instead of 80 marks. Last year there was a 51 percent failure and if the percentage increase is more this year we may decide to cancel the Paper,” he said.
He said that the Ministry has appointed a committee to look into whether the students concerned received the model papers in time and whether the questions were based on the new syllabus. We also want to know whether most students sat for the term tests, he said.
Meanwhile union officials in the education sector said such officials blunders should come to a halt without putting the students in trouble.
Ceylon Teachers’ Union president Joseph Stalin said that although the circular had been issued in 2006 that Grade 11 students should sit the O/L Exam based on the new syllabus, there was no proper planning.
Circular number 2006/9 issued on March 7, 2006 clearly stated that in 2007 students in Grade 6 and 10, in 2008 Grade 7 and 11 students, in 2009 Grade 8 students and in 2010 Grade 9 students should sit for the papers based on the new syllabus.
“Knowing this the authorities could have prepared model papers and accelerated the issue of text books and teacher guides very early. The preface of the model answer booklet was written in May 2008 and the printer’s code in the booklet bore the date as June 10, 2008. That means the students received the booklet at the end of the year. Even the text books were received by the students only in June and July,” Mr. Stalin said.
He charged the Education Ministry which appointed a committee to look into this matter included all the parties involved in the making of the syllabus, paper and teacher guides but not included independent parties.
“The committee consists of an Additional Secretary of the Ministry, representatives from the Exams Department, National Institute of Education and the National Education Commission. This would definitely be a biased committee,” he said.
He said as the paper marking will be starting from Tuesday he had doubts that the committee would be able to look into the issue properly.
Education Professionals Association secretary Wasantha Dharmasiri said that although the first paper had been made easy the second had been made difficult thereby placing even the brightest students in difficulty.
He said that if the students are not given suitable relief they would file a fundamental rights petition requesting cancellation of the paper.
Ceylon Teacher Services Union general secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said that the Examinations Department has a specific way of counting the level of competency of students and the papers are set below the maximum competency levels.
“But this time there were questions above the maximum competency level. This has not been noticed by the relevant authorities,” he said.
Mr. Jayasinghe said that usually it takes two years for students and teachers to familiarise themselves with a new syllabus.
“The students were only given the last term test paper that was similar to the exam paper but the students did not get enough time to prepare for the exam,” he said. | 
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