Over 300,000 children sit for GCE (AL) and nobody should be allowed to disrupt examinations – Prime Minister

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said more than 300,000 children sit for GCE (AL) and nobody should be allowed to disrupt the examinations. Addressing the Government Agents at the Home Ministry in Colombo today (10) he said any attempt to disrupt examinations that decides the future of these youths is a crime and urged the public servants not to be a party to any such act.

Speaking at the meeting held to discuss the ‘New Village – New Country; National Coordinated Participatory Development Programme’ the Prime Minister pointed out that GCE AL examinations will be held shortly and it is the responsibility of District Secretaries to ensure that the exams are held smoothly. “You must not try to wash your hands off by stating that the exams are the responsibility of Examinations Department. You must be in close touch with them to monitor and ensure that nobody is allowed to disrupt the exams. More than 300,000 children sit for this examination and if it is disrupted they will waste a full year. They cannot enter universities for another year and do not be a partner to such a crime,” he warned the senior public servants.

Referring to the public service manpower, the Prime minister pointed out that there is a large surplus in the service to fill the vacancies caused by officers retiring end of last year. This government gave jobs to 56,000 graduates. 24,000 of them have been deployed to education sector as teachers. Many others were also given jobs in the government service. They are in the district offices. They must be utilized for the new programme to grow crops,” he said.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of increasing agricultural growth. “The economy, which crashed last year, is now on the recovery and the public sector officers have a major responsibility to speed up economic activities as administrators of the governing machinery. There are 10,100 schools in the country and half of them have 1 to 12 acres of land. These lands must be sued to grow crops. There are no surveys on home gardens in the schools, at least as pilot projects. The public officers must look into this as it is your responsibility to inspect if the policy of utilizing every inch of uncultivated land for growing crops is being implemented properly,” he said.

State Ministers Ashoka Priyantha, Janaka Wakkumbura, Shehan Semasinghe, Sisira Jayakody, Secreatry to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake, Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardene, Public Administration Secretary Neil Hapuhinna, Presidential Advisor Suren Batagoda, district secretaries and other officials were present on this occasion.