Sri Lanka’s vision to tackle the unemployment issue is on path since the introduction of the technology stream into the school syllabus in 2013, Minister of Education Dullas Alahapperuma said.Referring to the newly released GCE Advanced Level Examination results, Minister Alahapperuma said ten percent of the students who faced the examination under the technology stream have passed.“We introduced the technology stream in hopes of reducing the number of students opting for the arts stream. Today we have succeeded in that,” the minister said.Forty percent of the total number of candidates who passed are from the arts stream.Minister Alahapperuma added that the country will have an answer for unemployment when the number of candidates who pass from the technology stream reaches 25 percent.

According to the Department of Examinations (DOE), 181,126 candidates who face the GCE Advanced Level Examination this year are eligible to apply for university entrance. This is out of over 280,000 candidates who sat for the examination. The number of students who were eligible for university entrance in 2018 was 167,907.The results were released on Friday (27) night and are available on the official website of DOE www.doenets.lk. Candidates are also encouraged to request for re-correction of answer papers by January 17 next year.Authorities have taken steps to suspend the issuing of results for 71 candidates due to a number of irregularities.

Students faced the examination under both the new and old syllabus. A total of 244,146 candidates sat for the examination under the old syllabus and 198,229 under the new syllabus.Gampaha Bandaranaike Vidyalaya produced two subject toppers - in Engineering Technical Stream and Arts Stream (old syllabus), while Visakha Vidyalaya, Ananda College, Bishop’s College and Devi Balika Vidyalaya in Colombo produced the students who topped biology, maths, commerce and Arts streams respectively.

Education Minister Alahapperuma said 73.4 percent of the total candidates who faced the examination have gained university entrance, and this was the first time the GCE A/L examination was passed by such a high number of candidates.“This is a victory from the side of the students. We will see more students entering universities next year,” he added.

Further inquiries relating to examination results can be obtained via 011278 42 08, 011278 4537 or 1911.