Sri Lanka conducted an islandwide competitive examination for graduate teacher recruitment on Sunday (May 24), with 163,433 candidates sitting the paper — the first such examination in over three years after it was suspended due to legal challenges.
The Ministry of Education said the examination, aimed at filling Sinhala, Tamil and English medium teacher vacancies in national and provincial schools, was held at 1,048 centres across the island. Of the total applicants, 66,991 are graduates already employed in the public service, while 96,442 are external graduates. The Department of Examinations also provided special arrangements for 323 candidates with special needs.
The exam was originally planned in 2023 but was suspended after three fundamental rights petitions were filed before the Supreme Court, along with a separate case before the Court of Appeal. Following the conclusion of all legal proceedings, the examination was reopened to both in-service and external graduates for the first time, with the aim of addressing the chronic teacher shortage across the island.
The examination covers recruitment into Sri Lanka’s national and provincial teacher service and represents one of the largest graduate recruitment drives in the country’s education sector. The 2024 census found tertiary education attainment rising significantly, producing a larger pool of eligible graduates than in previous years. Separately, Sri Lanka’s schools have seen over 11,400 corporal punishment complaints reported to education authorities in 2026, underscoring ongoing accountability pressures in the sector. A Court of Appeal ruling on RTI access to examination scripts earlier this month established a new transparency precedent for examination bodies.
