All schools ready to open on 15 March except in Western Province

All schools in the country are ready to open on 15 March for academic activities of all grades, however schools in the Western Province will only start after they receive health recommendations, Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peiris said.

The Ministry of Education is committed to providing the necessary facilities and study environments, to enable children to continue their activities, and therefore all schools in the country are ready to reopen on Monday 15 March, The Minister of Education Prof. GL Peiris said addressing a press conference held at the Water’s Edge Hotel, Battaramulla.

He said schools in the Western Province will be reopened only after obtaining recommendations from the Health Ministry. The Minister said plans have already been made to start all schools in the island. “We have requested the recommendations of the Ministry of Health regarding the opening of schools in the Western Province. We hope that the recommendations will be made within two days. Accordingly, we are ready to open schools in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts. At present we have sought the approval of the Director General of Health Services in this regard. We hope to receive that decision within two days.”

The Minister also noted that the GCE Ordinary Level Examination is currently underway and will end on 10 March. This time 622,000 students are taking the examination.

“We were able to successfully complete the GCE Advanced Level Examination and Grade 05 Scholarship Examination in the same manner. If we listened to those who expressed negative and pessimistic views on this, we would not be able to conduct this examination. We are committed to doing exactly what the people of the country expect from us. The Government took tough decisions even at this difficult time considering the future of our children. In the midst of these difficulties, we were able to work with the support of our officers, and all for the future of ourselves and the country.”

The Minister said that during the last nine days of the ongoing GCE O/L examination, 56 children infected with COVID-19 had sat for the exam at special centres. There were 40 such centres throughout the country.

A special classroom had been set up at each examination centre, with 321 quarantined students sitting for the exams. “I would like to say that we as a government and as a ministry have looked ahead and planned all this very successfully. Answer sheets to evaluate the first three days of the exam are already being prepared. All this is done to give the results of the examination by June and to start the GCE Advanced Level classes in July.”