Viral “Easy Exam” Student Did Not Score 193 in 2026 Scholarship Results

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When the Sri Lanka Department of Examinations released the 2026 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination results online on 2 September, one familiar face resurfaced fast: the schoolboy who had gone viral weeks earlier for telling reporters the exam was “easy-peasy”. Within hours, posts were claiming he had topped the island with 193 marks, while others dug up and mocked his actual result. Here are the posts that carried the claim.

Social Media Posts

FB | Archived

We investigated the claim after readers asked us to verify it.

Fact-Check

The Background Behind the Viral Posts

The child in the photograph was among the students who spoke to journalists waiting outside the school gates right after the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination on 9 August 2026. Almost every child interviewed said the paper had been very easy. This particular student stood out, casually calling it “so simple”, “easy-peasy”, and “a total breeze”. His relaxed, confident answers pushed the clip viral across social media.

Because the clip also showed the examination index numbers of this boy and a few other students, some users began questioning whether the students had actually passed the exam as they had claimed. Facebook | Archived Link

In this context, once the results were released, posts began claiming that this same child had scored 193 marks, the highest marks on the island.

The Island First 193 Marks Went to a Kurunegala Student, Not the Viral Student Who Was from Colombo

After the 2026 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination results were released, Commissioner General of Examinations Indika Kumari Liyanage told a special media briefing that the highest mark recorded islandwide in the Sinhala medium was 193, achieved by a student from the Kurunegala District. She added that the highest mark in the Tamil medium was 188, achieved by a student from the Jaffna District.

Although the Department of Examinations did not publish the names of the top scorers, mainstream media identified the highest-scoring student using information from the relevant district. These reports confirmed that the child in the viral posts was not the student who actually scored 193 marks.

Therefore, the island’s highest score of 193 marks in the 2026 Scholarship Examination was achieved by Danoj Theekshana Weerasekara of Ahatuwewa Primary School in the Mahawa Education Zone, Kurunegala District. The boy, who spoke to the media after the exam, had been interviewed outside a leading school in Colombo, confirming that he was not the top scorer.

The Viral Student’s Result Was Misused, and He Was Mocked

Some social media users exploited the viral student’s scholarship index number, accessed his results, shared screenshots of his scores and publicly mocked him. They did this despite clear warnings from the Department of Examinations prohibiting the unauthorised online publication of exam results.

Ministries Warned That Such Harassment Is Child Abuse

The Ministry of Women and Child Affairs issued a statement saying that exposing children to digital harassment, psychological distress or cyberbullying over their exam results is strictly prohibited. It stressed that such actions amount to child abuse and warned of severe legal action against offenders.

The Education Ministry Blocked the Boy’s Result at His Parents’ Request

We asked the Ministry of Education whether any action would be taken over the unauthorised checking of the child’s scores through the Department of Examinations portal. The Ministry’s Media Secretary said that, in line with Department directives, online access to the viral student’s results had been blocked. She explained that neither the Ministry nor the Department normally blocks a student’s results, but this exceptional step was taken at the parents’ explicit request.

She confirmed that the student who scored 193 marks is from the Kurunegala District, not Colombo. She also recalled that after some students’ remarks to the press were mocked online following last August’s exam, the Ministry issued an official directive restricting interviews near examination centres. Recording or broadcasting statements from students leaving an exam, without the explicit permission of their parents, principals or teachers, is now strictly prohibited.

About the 2026 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination

At the special briefing, Commissioner General Indika Kumari Liyanage announced that this year’s official cut-off mark had been set at 139. About 56,000 students passed by clearing that baseline. A total of 294,089 candidates registered for the examination, and 289,867 sat for it.

She said the Department would announce dates for calling re-scrutiny applications within a few days if there were any issues with the results and that the exact district-level cut-off marks for admission to popular Grade 6 schools would be published after consultations with the Ministry of Education. While results previously took roughly 40 days to almost two months, the department processed this year’s 289,867 results in just 24 days. Through an official communique on 24 August, the Department also announced that the 2027 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination will be held on 1 August 2027.

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Conclusion

Our investigation found that the social media posts claiming the student who went viral for calling the exam “easy” scored 193 marks are false. The island’s highest score of 193 marks in the 2026 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination was achieved by Danoj Theekshana Weerasekara of Ahatuwewa Primary School in the Mahawa Education Zone, Kurunegala District. This was confirmed by the Commissioner General of Examinations, Indika Kumari Liyanage.

The child in the viral posts, interviewed outside a Colombo school, was not the top scorer, and both the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and the Ministry of Education warned that misusing and mocking children’s results amounts to child abuse.