The education secretary Professor Kapila Perera issued a special clarification to the media today (01) regarding the submissions made by the parents and the teachers’ unions to the presidential secretariat with regard to the high rank of the district cut of marks for providing schools on the basis of the results of grade 5 scholarship examination held in 2020.
Any change has not been done in the procedure of admissions of scholarship holders to the grades 1 -13 in girls and boys’ schools, mixed schools and to the grades 6 – 13 in girls, boys and mixed national schools. This process was done strictly according to the previous circulars related to the admission of scholarship holders to the schools. Accordingly, it was ensured to the parents and the teachers’ unions that there has not been done any change in the methodology of admitting scholarship holders to the schools in the years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The district cut off marks for the scholarship holders of this time were issued on 15th of January and all the information about them were updated in the website of the ministry of education. A clarification has been made in it about the views raised by the parents saying that the cut off marks have increased unprecedentedly and a high injustice has happened to the children and also about the procedures can be taken for it. It will also be considered to increase the number of students admitted to grade 6 in the future by reducing one mark or two in the district cut off marks according to the request made by the parents for providing a concession to the students.
It will be necessary to increase the existing number of classrooms to accommodate the excess number of students created by the decrease of one mark and this is a complicated task in the face of practical issues of providing classrooms and human resources. Considering the request made by the parents, a transparent procedure will be implemented within next month taking into account the present situation in all national schools, the secretary of education further mentioned. Accordingly, the ministry of education decided to delay the activities of registration of scholarship holders for another one month, the secretary of education said.
