Exams postponed due to paper crisis in Sri Lanka

Colombo: Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a severe economic crisis due to which millions of students are unable to take exams due to severe shortage of paper.

Long queues have been seen at medical stores and petrol pumps before, as Sri Lanka has been in dire financial straits since 1948. That is why now the examinations have been postponed and the number of affected students is said to be 4.5 million.

The Western Province Education Department said in a statement that the shortage of foreign exchange has made ink and paper scarce and people are also struggling to find domestic fuel. On the other hand, meat, milk and other essentials are also out of public reach.

Due to financial difficulties, the Sri Lankan government has decided to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package. On the other hand, the IMF has also confirmed these links. It should be noted that Sri Lanka has a mountain of debt and the country's foreign exchange reserves are only 2.3 billion dollars.

In this context, there are long queues of people in shops and markets and there is a severe shortage of milk and sugar. Prolonged power outages have become commonplace across the country due to lack of fuel.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka has also requested financial assistance from China but so far China has not responded.