The GCE Ordinary Level Examination 2023 (2024) will begin at 3,527 countrywide centers today (6) and will be continued until May 15, Commissioner General of Examinations Amith Jayasundara said.
A total of 452,979 candidates including 387,648 school candidates and 65,331 private candidates are expected to sit the examination this year, he said.
According to him, 535 coordination centers and 33 regional collection centers will be operative countrywide during the period of the examination.
In case a candidate is unable to reach his examination center in time due to a natural disaster or rain, they should contact the hotline 117 and inform them of the difficulty in order to receive necessary instructions from the department.
This year seven prison inmates will also sit the GCE Ordinary Level Examination and six of them are from the Sunitha School of Watareka Prison.
The Examination Department has set up a special examination center in the Watareka Prison in order to facilitate them.
However, Prison Media Spokesman, Commissioner Gamini Dissanayake said two of the six candidates from the Watareka Prison have already been released from custody, but they will sit the examination at this special center as they had applied for the examination from the prison before their release.
The other inmate is from the remand custody of the Magazine Prison in Colombo and will sit the examination at a general center located in a school in Colombo, prison sources said.
Police Media Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa confirmed that Police have deployed over 2,000 officers for examination-related direct and indirect duties during this period.
This includes officers with weapons for the security of the examination centers, marking centers, transport and storing of answers papers and candidates. In addition traffic police officers will also conduct constant mobile patrols and traffic duties near and around the centers where the examination is held.
The DIG requested the public around examination centers not to disturb candidates during the examination by using loudspeakers.
Lahiru Fernando and Buddhika Imbulana