The Minister for Education is disappointed with Biman Prasad for using children’s exams to gain political mileage and spreading rumours and misinformation to distract parents and students who are trying to focus on exam preparations.
A total of 20,627 students nationwide will be sitting the exams from Monday 7 December to Thursday 17 December 2020.
As some exam papers finish at 5.10 pm, students will not be able to use their blue cards which are restricted, and as such, all heads of schools have been instructed by the Ministry to identify affected students and arrange transport.
The student subsidised e-Ticketing cards were earlier restricted to only be usable from 6.30 am to 9 am, and from 2.30 pm to 5 pm, to stop the large number of students who were abusing these cards to skip school and get up to mischief during and after school hours.
This was compromising the safety and education of many students.
The Ministry decided that opening up these restrictions during exams would lead to many students playing truant instead of heading home to study for their next paper.
“In order to ensure that students reach home safely after their exams, we decided that transport should be arranged to get students directly home so they are safely studying for their next paper,” said the Minister for Education, Honourable Rosy Akbar.
“Neither students nor their parents will pay a single cent.”
The Minister also said that those parents wishing to pick up their students after exams are most welcome to do so.
“Students transportation to and from school and their safety is of the utmost priority to the Ministry of Education, as we understand the importance of our young ones and we have instructed school heads to use the Free Education Grant funding to pay for costs because of the quick availability - this will, of course, be reimbursed as necessary from the subsidised transport allocation.”
The blatantly misleading statement by the National Federation Party (NFP) leader insinuates that students will somehow be deprived of education because the Free Education Grant is being used to rapidly arrange transportation so that children can get home safely to their parents.
“It is not only dishonest but extremely irresponsible by Biman Prasad and his NFP who are once again using innocent children to gain political mileage by creating an atmosphere of fear, confusion and anger among parents,” Minister Akbar said.
“Biman should know better than to make such misleading insinuations without knowing or understanding the facts.”
“The Government is using budgeted allocations and managing funds wisely to fully benefit students.”
“We strongly urge all parents to ignore such dishonest information and fully focus on preparing your children for their examinations.”
“Students are also urged to use this time to do their final studying and give themselves the best chance for a better future and seize the opportunity provided by your Government.”
“We have done our part by providing you with free tuition, free textbooks and transportation costs, and we will get your children safely back home - do your part and study hard.”
The Minister wished all students, and of course, parents, who are also part of their children’s success, all the very, very best for their final examination.