Tuition master involved in sharing O/L English paper arrested in Kandy

Kandy, May 12 (Daily Mirror) - The tuition master who was involved in releasing the General English question paper of the GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) examination on WhatsApp was arrested this morning from the Katugastota area in Kandy, police said.

They said the arrest was made following a complaint by the Examinations Commissioner General regarding the circulation of the question paper.

Police said that preliminary investigations have also revealed that there are 1,025 members on the particular WhatsApp group where the tuition master had shared the questionpaper.

The General English question paper of the examination was held on May 9 and according to the schedule, the question paper was distributed to the students at 8.30 in the morning.

However, it has now been revealed that the English question paper was released by this teacher to the WhatsApp group at around 9.11 am.

The assistant class teacher who was arrested is scheduled to be produced before courts today.

Statements have been recorded from the officials of the Examinations Department regarding the incident.

The 2023 GCE (O/L) examinations started on May 6 and will be held till May 15.

The mobile phones of the Hasalaka English tuition master and his mother were taken into police custody for circulating the English question paper for the ongoing GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) examinations, police said.

They also said that statements were recorded from the English tuition master and his mother regarding the incident.

Examinations Commissioner General H.J.M.C. Amith Jayasundara said a complaint was filed with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) regarding multiple irregularities discovered during the ongoing O/L examinations.

He said that incidents have been reported at two examination centres in Colombo, Kotahena and Hasalaka.

Reports indicated that some candidates had tried to access answers for the English question paper using smartphones and had shared them with others. The invigilators at these centres confiscated the mobile phones.

However, the Commissioner General mentioned that he had lodged complaints with police stations in the respective areas where the affected examination centres are located.