The third term examination of Grade 11 students, in North Central Province which was postponed due to the leakage of the question papers of the school examination, will be resume tomorrow (03), said the Secretary to the Chief Ministry of the North Central Province, K.M.H.S. K. Jayalath.
The relevant question papers for Grade 11 students have been printed by the Government Printing Department, and the North Central Provincial Education Department has spent an amount of Rs. 13 lakhs to reprint the question papers for Grade 11 students studying in Sinhala and Tamil.
Previously, the question papers of these school students were printed by a printing press belonging to the North Central Provincial Council. Secretary Jayalath states that since there is a suspision that the question papers were released before the examination this time, the Government Printing Department has taken steps to reprint the question papers and the payment to that institution has been suspended.
The 2024 final term examination began last January 03 and on the same day , the geography question paper prepared for Grade 6 students was posted in a WhatsApp group by a teacher who had prepared the question paper, forcing the provincial education department authorities to cancel the question paper and print another question paper at an additional cost.
The teacher involved in that incident has now been suspended from service.
Upon further investigation, it was revealed that all the question papers of the 2024 Grade 11 final examination had been obtained by teachers in the pre-examination tutoring classes, and the Provincial Director of Education took steps to cancel the Grade 11 final examination on January 05.
Two air passengers attempting to smuggle gold worth Rs. 210 million concealed among vehicle spare parts, were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday (May 15).
The suspects, a 26-year-old from Grandpass, Colombo, and a 46-year-old from Rambukwella, Kandy, had arrived from Dubai on Emirates flight EK-650 at 8:30 am.
Both individuals are believed to be couriers operating on behalf of local businessmen, frequently transporting goods from abroad.
Leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) – Wimal Weerawansa has stated that while it took 76 years for the price of a salt packet to reach Rs.60, the current government managed to raise the price to Rs. 400 within just seven months.
He made these remarks yesterday (May 15) during a media briefing held at the NFF headquarters in Colombo.
Weerawansa heavily criticized the current government, saying that although it operates under the banner of a so-called “renaissance”, it is in fact a government that fails to take any meaningful decisions.
“It took 76 years for a packet of salt to cost Rs.60. However, within 07 months, this government had raised the price to Rs.350 – Rs.400. This is the drama of the so-called renaissance.”
He also ridiculed the government’s narrative that the salt shortage is somehow part of a shift toward healthy eating habits.
Weerawansa emphasized that the current crisis reflects the government’s incompetence and insensitivity to the grave economic hardships faced by the people.
No salt produced this year – Lanka Salt Chairman
Meanwhile, Chairman of Lanka Salt Ltd. – Mr. D. Nandana Thilaka has stated no salt has been produced this year due to continuous adverse weather and rainfall.
He said that this adverse weather conditions has affected not only Hambantota but many other salt producing areas including Elephant Pass.
He further explained that in 2024, the company had planned to produce 125,000 MT of salt, but adverse weather conditions only allowed for the production of 40,000 MT.
Usually, salt harvesting starts in March every year, but the poor weather conditions have hindered this, according to the chairman.
While there has been a shortage of salt crystals in the market, table salt stocks remain unaffected, he clarified.
He further stated that Lanka Salt Ltd. had issued 100,000 packets of 400g table salt to Lanka Sathosa on May 14, and another 100,000 packets were to be issued yesterday (May 15).
The National Fertilizer Secretariat has launched an islandwide investigation to identify and remove substandard fertilizer from the local market.
The probe is being carried out through district Assistant Directors islandwide.
Director of the secretariat – Mr. Chandana Lokuhewage states that the investigation commenced following the recent raid of substandard fertilizer in the Polonnaruwa area.
Police had seized 1,565 bags of urea fertilizer during the raid in Siripura, Polonnaruwa.
Samples from the seized stock are to be sent to Colombo for laboratory testing, Lokuge confirmed.
12 suspects arrested in this regard have been remanded until May 28 after they were produced before the Dehiattakandiya Magistrate’s Court.
