Sri Lanka Cancels School Exams Over Paper Shortage

In an unprecedented move, Sri Lanka has cancelled school exams for its vast population of students after running out of printing paper. The country contends with its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948. With the move, the education authorities confirmed that the term tests, which were scheduled a week, are now postponed indefinitely.

The acute paper shortage besides Colombo’s crisis on funds to finance imports made the Department of Education of the Western Province announce that no School principal can hold the tests until further notice. The reason is given as the printers are unable to secure foreign exchange to import necessary paper and ink.

This problem could hold up tests for around two-thirds of the country’s 4.5 million students. For the unversed, 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. The economic crisis worsened the situation with a shortage of foreign exchange reserves to finance essential imports, 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. Around $6.9bn of Colombo’s debt needs to be serviced this year but its foreign currency reserves stood at about $2.3bn at the end of February. Earlier this year, Sri Lanka approached China, one of its main creditors, to help put off debt payments. However, there has been no official response yet from Beijing.