More than 600 schools across three cyclone-affected provinces in Sri Lanka will not reopen for the third academic term, with students set to be promoted without examinations, the Ministry of Education said on Tuesday.
The ministry has directed schools not to conduct term tests for students in Grades 6 to 10 for the third term of the 2025 academic year, according to a report by the Newsfirst Lanka portal.
Sri Lanka’s largely government-run education system divides the academic year into three terms, though the structure is not uniformly followed by all institutions.
"At least 640 schools in the cyclone-affected areas will remain shut. We have instructed the regional educational officers to promote students to the next grade without term tests," said Nalaka Kaluwewa, Secretary to the Ministry of Education.
Although schools were scheduled to reopen on Tuesday, the final decision has been left to provincial and district authorities, depending on local conditions, Deputy Minister of Education Madhura Seneviratne said.
Meanwhile, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, addressing the National Council for Disaster Management on Monday, said the government was working on a plan to preserve the central hill areas, which were among the worst affected by the disaster.
“We have identified 15,000 homes which are vulnerable in the areas. By the end of next year, we will complete 8000 new houses for them,” Dissanayake said and also asked the officials to speed up the process to pay 25,000 Sri Lankan rupees to each house affected by floods.
The council of the disaster management centre, which had met for the first time in 7 years, was told by the officials that 2.2 million people were affected by the disaster, with 6164 houses destroyed and 112,110 left partially damaged.