Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media and Cabinet Spokesman, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena yesterday said that the children of pampered class will not face any injustice due to boycott of marking Advanced Level papers by University lecturers and professors.
“The children of common masses will face great injustice due to the decision of university dons”, he said.
The minister said that there are many opportunities published in the English newspapers over the weekend to gain access to diplomas and universities after secondary school and stated that most of the parents of the urban class in Sri Lanka mortgage their property to provide opportunities for their children to study abroad for higher education after secondary education. He pointed out that such children do not have any problem, while ordinary children G.C.E. Ordinary Level and Advanced Level get their lives wasted for three to four years due to boycotting marking their answer scripts.
The minister further said, “The National Institute of Education prepares the syllabus related to children’s education and necessary training and guidance is given to the teachers. I don’t know why university teachers are deployed to design question papers. It does not happen in any other country in the world. Question papers like London Ordinary Level are designed by an international company.”
Dr.Gunawardena said that it is not appropriate for the university lecturers and professors to engage in a professional struggle while taking hundreds of thousands of children hostage. He said that they should set aside professional struggles and act with human compassion at this time without disrupting the lives of innocent children in this country.
The Minister said this as a response to a question raised by a journalist at the Cabinet decision notification press conference held at the Government Information Department yesterday (3) regarding the issue of G.C.E. Advanced Level answer script evaluation.