SRI LANKA CANCELS SCHOOL EXAMS DUE TO A LACK OF PAPER

Sat 19 March 2022:

Officials in Sri Lanka stated on Saturday that the country had to cancel exams for millions of students because the country had run out of printing paper and Colombo was short on finances to pay imports.

The term tests, which were supposed to start a week from Monday, have been postponed indefinitely due to a severe paper shortage in Sri Lanka, which is undergoing its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948.

“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 said.

Official sources said the move could effectively hold up tests for around two thirds of the country’s 4.5 million students.

Term tests are part of a continuous assessment process to decide if students are promoted to the next grade at the end of the year.

A debilitating economic crisis brought on by a shortage of foreign exchange reserves to finance essential imports, has seen the country run low on food, fuel and pharmaceuticals.

The cash-strapped South Asian nation of 22 million announced this week that it will seek an IMF bailout to resolve its worsening foreign debt crisis and shore up external reserves.

The International Monetary Fund on Friday confirmed it was considering President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s surprise Wednesday request to discuss a bailout.

Colombo’s debt must be serviced this year to the tune of $6.9 billion, but the country’s foreign currency reserves were at around $2.3 billion at the end of February.

Long lines have formed around the country for food and oil, as the government has implemented rolling power outages and rationing of milk powder, sugar, lentils, and rice.

Sri Lanka requested China, one of its biggest creditors, early this year for assistance in deferring debt payments, but Beijing has yet to respond.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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