Examination

A review of Richard Simon’s Thomia, subtitled ‘the entangled history of Lanka and her greatest public school’. A history of failed promise and a requiem to Anglophone Lanka, Thomia traces the mighty currents, momentous events, and complex men who forged the fate of independent Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s Telugu community resents being boxed as the ‘Ahikuntakas’ or gypsies. Most Sri Lankans overlook the diversity within the community, and push them away as social outcasts. To secure a better future, the youth are embracing Sinhalese culture and Christianity.

Thirty two bachelor’s students will set off for overseas study this year, fully funded at taxpayer expense. They aren’t going to the best universities, and it’s unclear how they were selected or whether they can be compelled to return to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan food isn’t a monolith. Specific dishes like Jaffna crab curry are associated with particular communities, but regional cuisine isn’t explored. Geography and trade give rise to a distinct culinary tradition beyond the Bentara, and with it delicacies like fish ambulthiyal and kalu dodol.

Some call Tilvin Silva the phantom President. The JVP’s general secretary for thirty years, he is the party’s ‘nucleus’ and role model. The president calls him ‘aiya’. Hiranyada Dewasiri examines what Tilvin is doing with all this influence.

How did a UNP carpenter's son become the JVP's General Secretary? In the first half of a two part series, Hiranyada Dewasiri examines the experiences, the women, and the books that made the enigmatic Tilvin Silva who he is today – possibly the most powerful man in the country.

Getting things done has been a challenge for successive governments. Despite new laws and policy reform, good ideas keep getting stuck when they reach the implementation phase. One overlooked reason is the quality of our civil servants and the exams that recruit them.

Education reforms are underway — the most significant in the recent past. But can they reform history textbooks, which despite incremental improvements remain nostalgic, nationalist, and sometimes straight-up racist?

Sri Lanka’s tourism product is vast; blue waves, golden sand, cool forests, and historical ruins are spread throughout the island. But poor destination management and infrastructure development means that tourists congest at only a handful of tourist sites.

Judges and lawyers are using AI. But candid conversations about risks and ethical use trail far behind. Meanwhile, legal AI companies keep developing their products with newer, bolder features.