December 31, Colombo (LNW): The Supreme Court has ruled that the fundamental rights of students were violated by the government’s decision to grant free marks for three questions in the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination, which were allegedly leaked prior to the exam.
This ruling came after the Court considered multiple petitions filed by concerned parents and students, who argued that the decision to award these free marks compromised the fairness of the examination process.
In its verdict, the Court ordered the Commissioner General of Examinations to immediately implement one of the three recommendations proposed by an expert committee that had been appointed to investigate the matter.
The recommendations were made to address the issues raised regarding the alleged leak of examination questions.
Additionally, the Supreme Court bench, which consisted of Justices Yasantha Kodagoda, Kumuduni Wickremesinghe, and Arjuna Obeysekara, ordered two individuals implicated in the leaking of the exam questions to compensate the government for their roles in the scandal.
The Director of the Planning Division at the National Institute of Education (NIE), I.G.S. Prematilake, was ordered to pay Rs. 3 million, while schoolteacher Chaminda Kumara Ilangasinghe was instructed to pay Rs. 2 million.
Both individuals had been arrested as part of the investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) following the discovery of the leak.
The controversy began when allegations emerged that three questions from one of the papers in the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination had been leaked in advance.
An investigation was promptly launched by the Department of Examinations, which was later handed over to the CID for further scrutiny.
The investigations revealed that only three questions had been compromised, contrary to claims made by some parents and media outlets that the entire paper had been leaked.
Despite the finding that only three questions were affected, the situation sparked widespread public outcry, leading to protests and press conferences organised by concerned parents.
In response to these developments, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was petitioned by the parents to intervene, prompting the suspension of the evaluation of answer sheets until the matter was fully investigated.
In a controversial move, the government had decided to grant free marks for the three questions allegedly leaked in the exam, a decision that many felt undermined the integrity of the examination process.
This decision, however, was challenged in court by a group of parents and students, who contended that their fundamental rights to a fair education were being violated.
On October 14, the Commissioner General of Examinations, Amith Jayasundara, confirmed that there would be no re-conducting of the exam, but the free marks for the three disputed questions would be given to all students.
This decision, however, did not sit well with those questioning the fairness of the process, and in November, the Supreme Court issued an interim order halting the release of the examination results until the legal matter had been fully addressed.
