House discusses A/L issue

Amidst various speculation by the Opposition on the 2011 G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination results, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane assured the House that no injustice or discrimination has been done to any student who sat for the Advanced Level Examination due the Z score system. He described this as an attempt made by certain elements to gain political mileage from this issue.

The Minister, in response to a statement made by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe explained the House how certain sections attempt to politicise this examination result. Citing an example the Minister pointed out how the Ceylon Teachers Union briefed the media about their move to go to the Supreme Court if the 2011 Advanced Level Examination results were not released before December 31, 2011. The Minister pointed this out as an attempt made to politicise examination results. He queried when four to six months have been taken to release the Advanced Level results since 2005, what was the intention behind the demand by the Ceylon Teachers Union to release Advanced Level results before the end of 2011.

Minister Gunawardane said the intention of certain elements was to take students out of their schools and universities, workers out of their working places and farmers out of their farms once again turning this country into a pool of blood. He stressed the importance of depoliticisation of the entire examination process. Responding to the queries levelled by the Opposition, the Minister said the Education Minister has no powers to directly intervene into the examination process conducted by the Examinations Commissioner as it is an independent institution functioning without any political interference.

However, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe in his speech pointed out that over 60 percent of students who sat for the 2011 Advanced Level Examination have asked for re-correction of their examination papers. He said if over 60 percent of the students lost their confidence on the examination result, it is a very a serious situation. Even under such a grave situation, nobody has taken this responsibility. The Opposition Leader noted the public confidence on the examination process has further collapsed due to the committee appointed to probe into 2011 Advanced Level results. Referring to certain media reports published about this committee, Wickremesinghe said the committee has stated this entire problem has occurred due to a result of entering faulty data to computers.

The Opposition Leader asked if what the committee says is true, aren't those who work at the Examinations Department capable enough even to insert data to computers? He stressed the need for rebuilding confidence among children and their parents on the country's examination process. The Opposition Leader also requested to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to probe these examination results.

When the Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga attempted to speak after moving a motion requesting to appoint a special Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the 2011 Advanced Level results, Leader of the House Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva who opposed him said the member cannot be allowed to make a speech as such tradition has not been followed in the House earlier. Despite the remarks made by the Opposition Leader to abolish the Z score system, Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake who responded to him told the House students have placed confidence in the Z score system. The Higher Education Ministry has been able to increase the number of students enrolled to universities by another 5,000 to 22,000 due to this Z score ranking.

The Employees Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill moved by the Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge was passed in Parliament on Wednesday with amendments by a majority of 59 votes. Senior Minister Athauda Seneviratne who joined the debate on behalf of the Government said the UNP is very panicky on these amendments.

He said the UNP possessed a bleak history of suppressing and killing the country's workers who engaged in various trade union actions to meet their demands. When attempts are being made by the Government to provide various benefits to the workers , the Opposition attempts to mislead them to gain their narrow political objectives. When the bill was taken for approval, the Opposition asked for a division. The bill received 71 votes in favour and 12 against. The UNP and the DNA members voted against the bill. The Government members during their speeches pointed out the amendments introduced by the Government have strengthened the laws with regard to the employers who have delayed paying EPF for the employees while fines have also been increased.

The Government and the Opposition members expressed their views on the country's judiciary system and other related matters under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act which was debated in Parliament. UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella commencing the debate on behalf of the Opposition queried if this particular law is in place how KP survives in Sri Lanka. India has also urged to hand over KP regarding the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The MP drew the attention of the House even if there are adequate laws in the country, those are not implemented properly. MP Kiriella stressed the importance of re-implementation of the 17th amendment to overcome this situation. He noted that the LLRC has also recommended to implement the 17th amendment while the religious leaders are also making the same request from the Government. UPFA MP Sarath Weerasekera who responded to the query raised by MP Kiriella informed the House that a formal request should be made by the Indian Government from the Sri Lankan Government to send KP to India. MP Weerasekera said KP is being used by the Government to ascertain more secret information about the LTTE to destroy its international network. The MP questioned why Kiriella has not requested to bring Rudhra Kumaran and other key LTTE activists to Sri Lanka.

Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem who responded to the queries levelled by the Opposition members informed the House any impunity will not occur and as the Minister he is very keen about the judicial service. He said certain practices followed by the Judicial Services Commission under several constitutions still continue. However, the Minister assured the House no interference will be allowed into the independent function of this commission. The Minister who also showed the Government's utmost commitment to implement the LLRC recommendations told the House the LLRC report is being scrutinised by the External Affairs Ministry.