With the ongoing economic crisis in the country, Sri Lanka decided to cancel exams for school students in the Western Province of the country. As per the officials, Sri Lanka has run out of printing paper, with Colombo not having enough to import printing papers.
The term exams were scheduled for a week from March 21 onwards; however, the government postponed them indefinitely amid the printing paper shortage, reported The Guardian.
Sri Lanka Cancels School Exams!
Sri Lanka is currently trying to fight its worst financial crisis since its independence in 1948. The tests have been cancelled for millions of school students in the country.
"School principals cannot hold the tests as printers are unable to secure foreign exchange to import necessary paper and ink," the department of Education of the Western Province was quoted as saying by News18.
Term exams for classes 9, 10 and 11 were scheduled to be held as part of the successive assessment process to review if students are suitable to be promoted to the next class at the end of the year.
Economic Crisis In Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's ongoing economic crisis brought on by a shortage of foreign reserves, finance essential imports, and others resulted in the country running low on petrol, diesel, food, cooking gas, milk powder, and even medicines. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the tourism sector has also been massively ravaged currently. The country's tourism sector has seen its worst days since 2019 because of Easter Bombings, and COVID lockdowns have now become collateral damage due to the war.
Comprising of 22 million people, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa-led government had asked China to assist them in putting off their debt payments. However, the Lankan government is still waiting on an official response from Beijing. The nation will also seek an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout to help resolve its foreign debt. On March 18, IMF confirmed that it was considering President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's request to discuss a bailout.