The Commissioner General of Examinations, Amith Jayasundara, has confirmed that the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination will not be re-conducted. Instead, all students will receive free marks for three questions that were allegedly leaked before the exam.
The evaluation of answer sheets, which had been temporarily halted, is set to resume immediately. Investigations revealed that only three questions were compromised. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is also conducting a separate inquiry into the leak.
An investigation was initiated on September 20 after allegations of a leaked question paper surfaced, with the initial report forwarded to the CID for further action. The Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Thilaka Jayasundara, had previously announced the suspension of the marking process due to this issue.
Two individuals have been arrested in connection with the matter: a 58-year-old Director from the Planning Division of the National Institute of Education (NIE) and a 49-year-old teacher. Both have been remanded until October 22. The NIE Director is a committee member who helped prepare the examination paper, while the teacher conducted tuition classes for Grade 05 students.
Despite ongoing investigations, some parents have protested, claiming that the entire question paper was leaked and have raised concerns with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. As a result, the evaluation of answer sheets was temporarily suspended.
The Grade 05 Scholarship Examination took place on September 15, with 323,879 candidates participating across 2,849 centers nationwide.
