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Colombo launches e-certificate service for Sri Lankans in UAE

DUBAI — Sri Lankan students residing in the UAE can now pay and receive their examination certificates through the Internet, following the launch of the first e-certificate service by the Examinations Department in Colombo.

Through the programme, a joint collaboration between the Postal Department and the Examinations Department, candidates will be relieved of the burden of personal visits to the Department to apply for the original exam certificate.

Examinations Commissioner General Mahinda Wijayasiri, who launched the service at the Department auditorium last week, said he was happy to note that they were bridging the technological gaps to serve their customers.

Sri lankan expatriates residing in the UAE have hailed the service. “Although, it is a bit too early to speak about the service and its benefits in the long run, a high placed Lankan professional in Dubai admits, “once implemented it will benefit not only the students, but also the large Sri Lankan labour force who can receive online their examination certificate issued by the Ministry of Education in Colombo.”

He pointed out that these certificates issued by the Ministry only are essential for attestation (a recent prerequisite for jobs in the UAE) and most Sri lankans who arrived on employment before the new rules do not possess the original examination certifiactes issued by the Ministry.

“We only have the provisional O and A level exam certifiactes issued by the respective school,” he said, adding that the provisional exam certificate issued by the school is not an acceptable document for attestation.

The Dubai-resident expressed hope the e-certificate service will eliminate personal visits to the Ministry in Colombo for these examination certicates.

Launching the service in Colombo, Wijayasiri assured this new programme would be a great relief for these applicants, especially the distant candidates and those living abroad.

He said they received over 150 applications to obtain originals of national exam certificates a day.

Candidates can pay through the e-money order service to the nearest post office, obtain a pin number and log in to the Department website www.doenets.lk to apply for the certificate on line.

The certificate will be posted to any local or foreign address submitted by the candidate, shortly.

The service is active in 50 main post offices in Sri lanka excluding North and East and is expected to be extended to 125 within several weeks and to all 630 main post offices before December next year.

The e-money order service was developed by the Information and Communication Technology Institute of the Colombo University, and was first initiated to transfer money from a person to an institute.

This was the first time the service was used to transfer money from one institution to another.

The department web site was launched by former Commissioner General A.M.R.B. Amarakoon in 1998 enabling national exam results to be viewed on this the Internet.

The first certificate through this service was issued to a G.C.E. A/L candidate from Hanwella by the Commissioner yesterday.

The event was presided over by Postal and Telecommunications Minister D.M. Jayaratne.