No rankings for all main public exams from this year- Akila
View(s):The Ministry of Education (MoE), from this year, will not rank students for all main public examinations, to prevent mental stress on students.
Earlier this week, Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam announced that providing grading based on marks for Grade 5 Scholarship and GCE Ordinary Level exams would be replaced with only ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail’, which will also include GCE A/L.
He said such gradings are limiting educational opportunities for students, as they are still used as determining exams within the educational system.
He also stated that a special committee would be appointed to proceed with this change.
The Minister expressed these views at the opening ceremony of a Primary Education Resource Centre and Technology Building of Kurunegala Kudakathnoruwa Sri Siddhartha MMV, which was built under the ‘Nearest School is the Best School’ programme for Rs 34 million.
Minister Kariyawsam said the decision followed Research that those denied of rankings get think they are failures.
“When it affects them mentally, it has a long term effect on them,” he said.
He said parents too, were pressurising their children to achieve better rankings.
He said that, in Singapore too, they follow a similar system.
- DW/MA