2024 Grade 5 Scholarship Exam results released

The results of the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination has been released online, the Commissioner General of Examinations announced. 

Accordingly, the results can be viewed on the department’s official websites: www.doenets.lk.

The 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination was held on September 15 at 2,849 centres across the island.

The Examinations Department said that approximately 323,900 students had applied while 319,284 had sat for the exam. Meanwhile, a total of 51,244 students have achieved marks above the cutoff mark of the exam, it said.

It further said that appeals for the scrutiny of results are requested to be submitted online between January 27 and February 06, 2025.  

Speaking in Parliament today (23), Prime Minister and the Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education Dr. Harini Amarasuriya had assured that the results of the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination would be released as soon as possible.

Responding to a question raised regarding the matter in the Parliament, the Prime Minister stated that the situation which led to the delay in the releasing of results was a “misfortune”, adding that the answer sheets evaluation activities of the examination are currently underway.

However, she assured that the release of results and the process of admission of students to Grade 06 will be expedited.

An investigation was launched on September 20, 2024, by the Department of Examinations after allegations surfaced regarding the leakage of three questions from the 2024 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination. 

While the initial probe revealed only three questions were leaked, the controversy escalated as some parents, staging protests and holding press conferences, claimed that the entire question paper had been compromised. 

Following this, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) took over the investigation, uncovering that the Director of the Planning Division of the National Institute of Education (NIE) and a school teacher were involved in the incident. Both were arrested and remanded until October 22.

In response to the public outcry, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake intervened, leading to the suspension of the evaluation of answer sheets until the investigation was concluded. On October 14, Commissioner General of Examinations Amith Jayasundara announced that the examination would not be re-conducted, and free marks would be awarded for the three leaked questions. 

However, in November, the Supreme Court issued an interim order halting the release of the 2024 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination results until further proceedings.

On December 31, 2024, the Supreme Court declared that fundamental human rights had been violated through the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision to award free marks to all students for the three questions of the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination which are alleged to have been leaked.

Accordingly, the court also ordered the Commissioner General of Examinations to immediately implement a suitable recommendation out of the three recommendations made by the experts’ committee appointed to look into the matter.

Later on, the Commissioner General of Examinations, Amith Jayasundara announced that it was decided to award free marks to all students for the three questions which were alleged to have been leaked in the 2024 Grade 05 Scholarship Examination, as per the Supreme Court verdict pertaining to the case.