Mr. Donald Gaminitialke, who needs no introduction to Sri Lankan blogsphere, recently posted a comment about TOEIC in another blog. Â TOEIC, is a test like TOEFL, he tells but more relevant for those who want to use English in their working environments. We are sure many Sri Lankan students want to prove their English knowledge to prospective employees. So we thought of introducing this to our readers with some additional information cut and pasted from Wikipedia.
MORE people are getting degrees than ever before. From 1995-2005 the graduation rate in rich countries increased by 12%, according to the OECD’s “Education at a Glance†report, published on Tuesday September 18th. Australians are the keenest students, with over 80% of young people entering university in 2005. Australia also had a high graduation rate. Around three-quarters of young people in Nordic countries and Poland attend university, much higher than Germany or Austria.
The Examinations Department will release Advanced Level Examination 2007 results without delay, Commissioner General of Examinations Anura Edirisinghe said.The evaluation of A/L answer scripts commenced on September 15 at 54 marking centres and will end on September 30. Examinations Department sources said the scrutiny of answer papers is being carried out as scheduled at all marking centres since evaluators are reporting for duty. Evaluation had earlier been scheduled to commence on August 20 at 27 marking centres. However, many teachers did not report for duty due to the trade union action of five teacher trade unions.
The confusion and the controversy over admissions to Grade 1 of schools has taken a new turn with Presidential Advisor Vasudeva Nanayakkara now seeking intervention by the United Nations to prevent discrimination against poor children. In a letter to the UN Children’s Organisation UNICEF, Mr.Nanayakkara says: “You are the UN arm to protect children. The children of our country (Sri Lanka) are to be subjected to an unwarranted exercise of being tested for their abilities for admission to Year One in State schools. This implies that private schools can admit children without such a test.
Almost all the schools were closed today due to a token strike of the teachers, for the first time in the history. None of the teachers reported duty today in leading national schools such as Ananda, Nalanda, Royal, Vishska colleges. Five teachers’ unions launched the token strike since the discussions with the cabinet subcommittee, the Ministry of Education and especially with the Salaries and Cadre Commission were failed by yesterday. The teachers have rejected grading of Advanced Level examination too. Although 16 evaluation centers were open today only a limited number of teachers were present.
The National Salaries and Cadre Review Commission has requested the Education Ministry to submit a fresh set of proposals within two weeks for the resolution of salary problems put forward by five teacher trade unions currently boycotting Advanced Levelpaper marking. Education Minister Susil Premajayantha told the Daily Mirror yesterday that he would now take necessary measures in this regard to rectify salary anomalies in the teacher service. Mr. Premajayantha said that this move by the Commission was a new development, and the trade unions also wanted an assurance from the government to enforce the new salary scales by January 1, 2008. However, the trade unionists urged the Government to issue the circular enacting the new salary scales immediately.
Teachers’ trade unions in Sri Lanka accused authorities of intimidating teachers who are boycotting marking A/L exam papers.   Lanka Teachers’ Association (LTA) said the authorities are using police to intimidate teachers after the talks between the authorities and trade unions collapsed on Wednesday. The teachers have been boycotting marking A/L exam papers for nearly 20 days urging the authorities to rectify their pay anomalies. LTA General Secretary Joseph Stalin told BBC Sandeshaya that police officials around the island are intimidating the teachers after the talks ended with no agreement. “The police officials are visiting teacher’s residents asking whether they are prepared to mark the papers,” he said.
I am a A/L student in Negombo. It was my personal experience when one of my cousins had to seek admission to a popular school in Negombo.His family happened to face severe problems despite the fact that father possesses the membership of the past pupils’ association of the college. He always dreamt about sending his child to that school. But unfortunatly it did not happen.
Talks between the teacher trade unions and Education Minister Susil Premajayantha yesterdayfailed to reach any settlement regarding the grievances connected with their salaries . Secretary to the Association of Educational Professionals Wasanta Dharmasiri told the Daily Mirror yesterday that they would go ahead with their decision to boycott Advanced Level paper marking. However, Mr. Dharmasiri said that the minister agreed to arrange a meeting for them with the National Salaries and Cadre Review Commission today to discuss the problem further. Five teacher trade unions started boycotting paper marking on August 20 urging the government to address their grievances.
General category – Location of the residence and convenience of parents and child: Maximum 20 marks. (Under the earlier guidelines householders – residents living closest to the school – would get 40% while non-householders – residents living near the school would get 7%) The School Committee may consider giving full marks if the school applied is the closest school to the applicant’s residence. It may consider reducing one mark for each school of the same category (National or Provincial) situated between the school applied for and the applicant’s residence. If an applicant seeks marks under this category, he or she cannot seek marks under the past pupils category. Past Pupils: Maximum 20 marks.