– Former Director of the National Institute of Education (NIE), I.G.S. Premathilaka, was today sentenced to six years of rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court after being found guilty of contempt of court in connection with the 2024 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination controversy.

The judgment was delivered by a three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, Justice Achala Wengappuli and Justice Gihan Kulatunga. Apart from the prison sentence, the Court also imposed a fine of Rs. 3 million on the respondent. The court further ordered that an additional one-year prison sentence would be imposed if the fine is not paid.

The contempt proceedings were initiated against the former NIE Director for allegedly failing to implement an earlier order issued by the Supreme Court relating to the 2024 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination.The contempt of court proceedings relate to the examination conducted on September 15, 2024, where the confidentiality of three questions in Paper I was reportedly breached, triggering widespread concern over the integrity of the examination process.In its ruling delivered on December 31, 2024, the Supreme Court held that the Fundamental Rights of the student candidates and petitioners had been violated by the State due to the breach in the integrity of the examination paper.