Education Minister Susil Premjayanth yesterday said that several thousands of Tamil candidates who had sat for the GCE O/L examination last December would be given an opportunity to sit a fresh Mathematics II paper.

He told The Island that about 8,000 candidates who had sought refuge in government-held areas could sit for the examination in a few months.

The government directed the Examination Department to conduct a fresh examination after teacher unions alleged that there had been serious flaws in the Mathematics II paper prepared under the new syllabus.

Premjayanth said that students in some parts of the Vanni region couldn’t sit the special paper due to war.

He rejected claims that the results of the examination had deteriorated sharply. An angry Minister said that it would be unfair to come to a conclusion before the Examination Department conducted the Mathematics II paper. Responding to our queries; even without that the results had been comparatively better than the previous year, he said.

According to statistics available at the Examination Department, 49 per cent of students who sat for the GCE O/L examination last year failed in mathematics.

Sources said that 145,140 and 163,725 candidates (55%) had failed to obtain at least a simple pass in mathematics and Science, respectively. About 56,000 had failed Sinhala, while 203,845 (69%) had failed to obtain a simple pass in English, sources said.