Teacher unions today said that they too would refrain from partaking in the A/L answer script evaluation process if the University academics decide to proceed with their union action of abstaining from this year’s A/L evaluation process.

Commenting on a statement made by Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Nawaratne’s plan to appoint teachers into positions that would be vacant due to the absence of academics as suggested by Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena, teachers stated that they would not be able to carry out the duties executed by academics in the A/L evaluation process.

“The university academics play a vital role in the A/L examination process since they make a significant contribution to every aspect of the examination process ranging from setting the question papers up to evaluation them,” Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin said.

Meanwhile Education Professionals Association (EAP) Convener Wasantha Dharmasiri who stringently criticized the decision to involve teachers to fill the vacant positions of the A/L evaluation process due to the academics absence stated that it would lead to a series of issues concerning the standards of the question paper as well as the evaluation process.

“A/L is the examination which grants the students the chance to enter university. The standards of every question paper of the A/L examination is the responsibility of the academic who sets the paper and the chief controller of every panel for each subject is always an academic. These responsibilities cannot be borne by a teacher no matter how experienced they are,” he pointed out.  (Lakna Paranamanna)