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Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake has been left with egg on his face once again. His last-ditch attempt on Thursday to work out a compromise formula as regards the Z-score dispute came a cropper when the Supreme Court turned down his motion to that effect submitted through the Attorney General. He should have known better than to seek permission from the apex court for such a na ve course of action.
Minister Dissanayake had all the time in the world to appoint any number of committees to discuss the Z-score issue, arrive at a solution acceptable to all stakeholders and avoid a judicial intervention. But, arrogant and cocky, he chose to try to bulldoze his way through, contemptuously brushing aside dissenting views. The judiciary has kept him in his place!
We do not intend to discuss the Z-score controversy afresh. The matter is now before the Supreme Court and it is best left to the learned judges, whose decision is expected shortly. We have written on the issue extensively and printed several articles on the subject by experts, who challenged the validity of a mathematical formula prepared by a UGC-appointed panel to calculate the Z-score for the GCE (A/L) examination conducted under the new and old syllabi in 2011. The public are also fairly au fait with the issue and everybody is eagerly awaiting the Supreme Court decision.
Minister Dissanayake and the government could have avoided their present difficulties if they had been flexible enough to take on board others` viewpoints on the disputed Z-score formula and act accordingly instead of forcing it down the throats of students, teachers and parents.
The crucial importance of the GCE (A/L) examination to students who cannot afford private university education cannot be overemphasised, and no room should be left for the slightest doubt in their young minds about the accuracy and correctness of their results, on the basis of which they are admitted to universities. Sadly, the government`s bungling has led to a serious erosion of public faith in the examination system.
No one is perfect and humans make mistakes. There have been some result mess-ups in the past as well owing to technical faults and various errors on the part of examiners et al. What needs to be done in such situations is to adopt remedial measures urgently in a transparent manner to the satisfaction of all parties concerned without allowing controversies to snowball into unmanageable crises and legal battles.
The time for the appointment of a committee as proposed by Minister Dissanayake was when the mathematical formula used by the UGC`s expert panel drew heavy flak for its alleged flaws. Experts are not infallible and the government should have had their disputed method reviewed by other experts including those who were instrumental in introducing the Z-score to this country. Teachers` unions let out a howl of protest and parents voiced their concern but the government carried on regardless only to swing into action too late in the day.
It is a pity that we are burdened with a government which is incapable of even a simple task like Z-score calculation. Time was when its inefficiency and ineptitude led to legal wrangles over gas prices and school admissions with the judiciary having to intervene to sort them out. Now a similar situation has arisen in respect of university admissions!
President Mahinda Rajapaksa should seriously consider conducting a leadership training programme at military camps for his blundering ministers who have become a public nuisance. Anything they touch turns into an unholy mess in no time. His education ministers are perhaps the worst they do not seem to learn from their blunders. It is time he knocked some sense into them
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