A/L, Grade-Five-Scholarship exam postponed: Minister

The Education Ministry has decided to postpone the 2021 GCE Advanced Level examination (A/L) and the Grade-Five-Scholarship Examination.

Addressing media at Nelum Mawatha, Education Minister G.L.Pieris said today the A/L Examination will be held from November 15 to December 10 and the Grade-Five-Scholarship Examination on November 14.  

Earlier, the Ministry had scheduled to conduct the A/Level examination from October 4 to 30 "A total of 622,000 candidates sat for the A/L examination.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic in the country resulted in delaying the exams," the minister said. Another problem has arisen in issuing the results of the GCE A/L Examination.

There is an issue about conducting the practical exam for the students who have studied eight Aesthetic subjects. Therefore, there was a delay in releasing the results," he said.

"169,000 candidates out of the 622,000 who have studied aesthetics subjects, sat for the O/L Exam. If practical tests can not be conducted, then we are faced with the question of whether the results will be released after scoring in the school-based assessment," Minister Peiris said.

The ministry also decide to conduct the practical examination for aesthetics subjects from August 28 to September 8. Later, the ministry will be able to release the examination results as soon as possible. Necessary arrangements have been made to release the results, the minister added.