All schools across Sri Lanka will resume normal operations on Wednesday after Tuesday’s islandwide closure, except for examination centres affected by the weather, Deputy Minister of Education Dr Madhura Seneviratne said. G.C.E. Ordinary Level practical examinations are being postponed where conditions require it.
The announcement was reported by NewsFirst at 4.44 p.m. Colombo time on Tuesday.
What was decided
- All schools islandwide resume normal academic activities on Wednesday 28 October.
- Examination centres affected by adverse weather are the exception.
- Discussions have been held with officials at G.C.E. Ordinary Level practical examination centres to postpone examinations where necessary, the Deputy Minister said, so that no student is disadvantaged by conditions.
Schools were closed islandwide on Tuesday because of severe weather.
The Deputy Minister said flooding has been reported in the Sabaragamuwa region, particularly the Ratnapura District, along with other weather-related disruptions.
What parents still need to find out
The reopening is general; the exam postponement is not. The filing describes postponement as happening “where necessary” and at centres affected by the weather — which means it is a centre-by-centre decision, not a national one.
No list of affected centres is published in the filing, and no replacement dates are given. Families with a candidate sitting an O/L practical this week cannot determine from this announcement whether their centre is affected. The report does not say who will notify them, or through what channel.
Ratnapura is named as the worst-affected district, so candidates there have the clearest reason to check — but the filing does not say that postponements are confined to Sabaragamuwa.
The closure this reverses
Tuesday’s islandwide closure was announced on Monday as severe weather spread across the country. Wednesday’s reopening ends it after a single day.
The decision follows a week in which the authority to close schools itself shifted. Earlier in the month the Education Ministry devolved closure decisions to provincial officials, then issued a blanket national closure within hours — a reversal this desk flagged at the time. Wednesday’s announcement restores the ordinary position: schools open, with exceptions handled locally.
The weather context is broader than schools. The Disaster Management Centre’s running tally has been in the ten-thousands of people affected across multiple districts, several reservoirs have been spilling, and landslides have been reported in the hill country.
Not reported
The filing does not name the affected examination centres, give the number of candidates involved, or say when postponed practicals will be rescheduled. It does not say whether the Department of Examinations has issued its own notice, which is where an authoritative centre list would normally appear.
It does not say which O/L practical subjects are affected. It does not say whether written examinations are affected, or only practicals, and it does not address whether the overall O/L timetable will shift.
It does not say how schools in Ratnapura specifically are expected to reopen if flooding is ongoing there, or whether any school is being used as a relief centre — a common arrangement in Sri Lankan floods that would prevent reopening regardless of a national instruction.
It gives no figure for how many schools were closed on Tuesday.
On sourcing: this report rests on a single verified newsroom. The Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing on Tuesday evening carried no filing on the reopening, and a check of the Hiru News homepage rail found none. Ada Derana has returned a CloudFront block to this desk for 45 consecutive days and could not be checked. Parents and candidates should confirm their own centre’s status with the school or the Department of Examinations rather than relying on a single report.
