INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Director of the Planning Division of the National Institute of Education (NIE) in Maharagama and the school teacher, who were arrested
by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) over the Grade 5 scholarship examination question paper issue, have been ordered to be
remanded until October 22.This order was issued after the arrested 58-year-old NIE Director, who was a member of the committee which
prepared the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination paper, and the 49-year-old teacher who had been conducting tuition classes, were produced
Examinations after it was alleged that a question paper from the exam had been leaked
Later, the initial investigation report has been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is currently conducting
further inquiries.Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Thilaka Jayasundara, announced that the paper marking process of
the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination, which was held on September 15, has been temporarily suspended, owing to the issue.Furthermore, the
Education Ministry said the decision on whether to hold the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination again or not will be made after the CID and the
Exams Department complete their investigations into the alleged leaking of questions
The decision will be based on the findings and recommendations of the relevant investigations, according to the Ministry Secretary.The
Commissioner General of Examinations Amit Jayasundara said that investigations are being held into an incident where three questions similar
to those on the Grade 5 Scholarship exam paper had allegedly been posted online via a model exam paper.He had also stated that if
investigations uncover that the questions have in fact been leaked, the relevant questions would be disregarded during the paper marking
process.He revealed that an investigation was conducted based on the information received alleging that a teacher in the Alawwa area had
uploaded a model question paper to social media which had included three questions similar to three questions in the first paper of the
Grade 5 Scholarship Exam.However, the parents have requested that the President to consider holding a re-examination for the first paper of
the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination, as they claimed eight questions, and not three, were leaked prior to the exam.Against this backdrop,
Sri Lanka Police has informed that anyone with evidence or knowledge of any exam questions, other than the three questions already alleged
scholarship exam was held at 2,849 centers across the island, with 323,879 candidates participating.
