President Maithripala Sirisena said that the Government has decided to cancel the Garde 5 Scholarship exam according to one of his proposals.

Addressing a ceremony to mark the vesting of the newly built “Maithri Shilpa Kala Mandapaya to the children of Royal College Polonnaruwa today, he said this decision was taken considering the sufferings faced by the children due to this examination.

He pointed out that the scholarship examination was commenced with the idea of giving an opportunity to poor children to enter a school with more facilities to carry out their education and to get some allowance but today it is a competition to enter a popular school.

Today there is a problem in the scholarship examination and most of the children who are qualified for University Education have not passed the scholarship examination, he said.

In the same way, the President further pointed out that what should be done is not a competition for schools accepted as popular schools, but the transfer of the responsibilities to the Ministers and the Members in the respective areas for materially and qualitatively developing of schools by giving the required resources.