The Commissioner General of the Department of Examinations will announce the revised dates for conducting the   2023 G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination next week, Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha says.

The minister made this remark while delivering a special statement in the parliament this morning (21).

Speaking further, Premajayantha emphasized that a large number of students, as well as the MPs of both the ruling party and the opposition in their capacity as public representatives, have requested to postpone the A/L examination citing several issues.

Repercussions of postponing the 2023 Advanced Level exam to 2024 need to be taken into account [when considering the request], the minister said, mentioning that holding the school examinations and releasing the results have continuously been put off due to certain adversities including the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, trade union actions and the economic crisis.

“Schoolchildren and parents were the ones who were affected by all these issues”.

Furthermore, the Education Minister expressed that admission of students to the universities, admission to the courses conducted by higher educational institutes, and admission to foreign universities have been delayed over the past few years, which cost the students the opportunity to apply for the courses at the minimum prescribed age.

He said the ministry hoped to prevent the exam from being delayed year after year and to provide the students the opportunity to face the exams at the minimum prescribed age in order to pursue higher education.

Meanwhile, the minister pointed out that if the 2023 A/L examination is pushed to January 2024, the 2023 G.C.E. Ordinary Level examination, which is currently planned to be conducted in the months of March and April 2024, will have to be postponed to May or June.

He also explained that as a result, the authorities will be compelled to postpone exams time and time again.

“When the school examination calendar becomes irregular, the school term calendar will also be delayed.”

“This will also cause delays in admission of students to Grade 01”, he stressed.

The minister further warned that this will lead to the loss of opportunities for students to apply for foreign universities and scholarships.

“In addition, recruitments to several government vacancies will face delays, as the delays in releasing examination results will cause the postponement of various corporate examinations”, he added.

Premajayantha asserted that however, the attention of the Examinations Department has been drawn to revise the dates for conducting the 2023 A/L examination, in a manner that does not affect the school term calendar.

The minister highlighted that the decision was arrived at in consideration of the injustice to a considerable number of students who have applied for the examination, following the release of 2022 A/L results.

“Compared to previous years, 18,473 more applications were received for the examination after the results were released”, he added.