“Examinations Dept. runs on an unwritten law”

Ex Exams chief says people have lost confidence; alleges Grade 1 admissions system lacks transparency

Former Commissioner General of Examinations A.M.R.B. Amarakoon, with 30-years experience in the Examinations Dept. alone, is of the opinion that the Grade 1 Admissions system lacks transparency.

“When an application is made to a school, parents should know what has happened to that application – whether it was selected or rejected. If it was rejected, they should know the reasons for the rejection. The parent has a right to this information,” he asserted, in an interview with The Bottom Line.

Affirming that parents have now lost confidence in the Examinations Dept. and that the dept should embark on confidence building measures, he pointed out that the Examinations Dept. runs on an “unwritten law.”

Amarakoon, who was Commissioner General of Examinations from 1998 to 2002, has many years of experience as a teacher. He started his teaching career in 1963, at Opanayake Maha Vidyalaya, Ratnapura, after receiving training at the Technical College, Maradana. Then came an appointment at Peradeniya Maha Vidyalaya, first as a teacher and then as the principal.

Following this, he sat for a degree at the Sri Jayewardenepura University, after which he was a curriculum developer at the Curriculum Development Unit of the Curriculum Development Centre. It was then that he joined the Examinations Dept. as a teacher, kicking off a job that would last for 30 years, albeit in different capacities.

At the Examinations Dept., Amarakoon rapidly rose through the ranks, going on to become an Assistant Superintendent of Examinations, Superintendent of Examinations, Assistant Commissioner of Examinations, Deputy Commissioner of Examinations and finally, Commissioner General of Examinations

Q: What are the gaps you see within Sri Lanka’s education system? Do you feel that it should be revised?

A: The Examinations Dept. runs on an ‘unwritten law.’ We need to change Act No. 25 of 1965. Many education reforms and changes have been made since then, but they have not been included in the Act. Under the Act, the education minister has the power to give orders to the Examinations Dept. Under that power, in 1972, Minister Badiudeen Mohamed gave some guidelines, and after that, Minister Richard Pathirana gave some guidelines. But no changes were made in the Act.

As for the general education system, until 1972, it was implemented up to Grade 8. Those days, after Grade 8, there were three sections – Arts, Commerce and Science. After the 1972 reforms, general education was brought up to the Ordinary Level (OL) and several subjects were combined. Integrated subjects were introduced.

In the case of general education, there should be a limited number of subjects and we must have the resources to develop the system. Yesterday, I heard that they are going to introduce some more subjects to the OL. I see no need for this, because, when we introduce a subject, there should be teachers, equipment and a curriculum. That is an area that would have to be considered carefully.

Earlier, the concept was ‘Yahapath Purawasiyan Bihikirimu.’ Now, the concept has been changed, and it’s a case of developing what is needed in the market. That is one area that would need to be considered.

Q: What are your views on the Grade 1 Admission process?

A: My involvement in that process was in 1994. I did the appeals to the Education Ministry, and there were many appeals on the basis of the Grade 1 Admissions system. I must say that there wasn’t a single court case that year.

The admission system lacks transparency. When an application is made to a school, parents should know what has happened to that application – whether it was selected or rejected. If it was rejected, they should know the reasons for the rejection. The parent has a right to this information.

When we introduced reforms, when Dr. Tara De Mel was the Education Secretary, we did not change the fundamentals of the 1994 or 1995 circulars. Only the selection process was developed. We went for new technology, using a computer system for selection.

The Education Ministry has distributed computers to all national schools and to most provincial schools and, under the Education Ministry, there are 100 additional computer centres throughout the island. We must make use of this facility for practical purposes. The system that we introduced must be implemented. Why was it stopped?

We changed only the selection system, by making it transparent. Pen, pencil and circular will not help resolve the problem. That is why we started to identify the weaknesses and strengths of the system, develop the computer software and hand over the system to the principals of the relevant schools. We must develop the system, computerise it and implement it. We clearly gave the marking schemes. They were prepared for data entry.

Q: Should examination timetables be reformed?

A: When I was the Commissioner General of Examinations, we advanced the Advanced Level (AL) exam to April, but that system has been changed again. We advanced the ALs to April so that, those sitting for the OLs in December, would not waste too much time at home. If the AL exam is held in August, OL students cannot start classes early. They have to start classes somewhere in September or October.

Some schools say that they start AL classes in May. If that is so, those who are preparing for the AL that year, should be given study leave. There aren’t enough teachers or resources to do it otherwise. In the event of AL classes being started for the former OL batch in May, there will be three AL batches at the same time – first year, second year and those who are sitting for the exam in that year.

I think, ALs should be held in April, which also provides an opportunity to those who want to apply to foreign universities, since foreign universities start their academic sessions in September/October. Furthermore, if we have the ALs in April, those who are not placed in universities here, could also apply for those foreign programmes, if they could afford it.

Q: Expenditure on education is comparatively less in Sri Lanka. What are your views on this issue?

A: I have no idea about that.

Q: Dr. Tara De Mel recently told The Bottom Line that in the OL exam, the pass rate is something between 45% and 47%. She added that we also have very low pass rates in key competitive subjects, like Maths, Science and English. How do you think this situation could be resolved?

A: There are many schools lacking teachers. But, if you take the results of schools such as Ananda College, Nalanda College and Royal College, which are the more facilitated schools with teachers and all the resources, their results are above 85% to 90%. Some of the schools that don’t have teachers and other resources, have low pass rates. That is why the overall picture is negative, when you take the overall pass rate.
School-wise, some schools are very good. To resolve this problem, we need teachers, we must provide the facilities, and we must create the right environment. Schools should get books on time, which is also important. Once we tried to solve the problem by giving two Maths papers – one lower paper and one higher paper. But that failed.

Q: What is your opinion on the inordinate delays in releasing examination results?

A: At the time I was appointed Commissioner General of Examinations in 1998, it took 160 days to release the Grade 5 scholarship examination results. I progressively reduced the period and finally, by the time I retired, it was down to 46 days by 2001. In the case of the OL, when I joined, it took 149 days in 1996 but by 2001, I had brought it down to 85. As for the AL, when I joined, it took 180 days to release results, but I brought it down to 83. This is not happening now, and results are being delayed once again. It is a waste of students’ time.

We reduced the time period by introducing new technology – the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) Machine – and trained teachers, so that they were with the system. We trained the marking examiners to use the new technology. Data entry does take some time, but at the same time, the marking examiners also extended their support to help us reduce the time interval taken to release results.

Q: There has been an erosion of confidence in the Examinations Dept., especially in the recent past. Why is this and how can this issue be resolved?

A: Parents have now lost confidence in the Examinations Dept. We have to build confidence in the department. Following last year’s strike, parents are of the view that marking examiners are not in a proper mental state to mark the papers. They say that students who should have received ‘A’ grades, have gotten ‘B’ grades and so on. We have to address these issues and develop confidence in the Examinations Dept.

We must remember that the Examinations Dept. depends 100% on outside support –for question paper setting, moderation, marking, supervision of the centres, etc. The Examinations Dept. only organises the examination and gives instructions. The Examinations Dept. must look at confidence building measures, so that it could build confidence in parents, students and teachers.

Q: Is there political interference within the education system?

A: Political interference has been present from the beginning, since 1948. Every time there was a change in the education minister, something in the education system was also changed. First there was Sinhala Only. Then Iriyagolla introduced some other method. After that, there were reforms in 1972. They were changed again in 1972.

Then during the same UNP regime since 1977, there were three education ministers – Ranil Wickremesinghe, Lalith Athulathmudali and W.J.M. Lokubandara – and even then, there were changes each time the minister changed, despite it being the same regime. The system changed according to the minister. After that, Ranasinghe Premadasa introduced the National Education Commission, supposedly, in order to allow the education system to operate without any political interference. But, in that instance, even the appointments were political appointments. So, I don’t think it served the purpose.