April 2026

Jaffna Student Dies Days After Securing Three A’s in A/L Examination

Jaffna Student Dies Days After Securing Three A’s in A/L Examination

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — April 4, 2026 — A 19-year-old student from Jaffna Hindu College who had recently emerged as one of the district’s top performers in Sri Lanka’s Advanced Level examination died on Saturday after several days in intensive care, hospital officials said. The student, Lavan Akshayan, a resident of Inuvil, had been admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital about a week earlier with what was initially a wound infection. It later progressed to sepsis — a life-threatening condition in
April 2026 Monitor Memo
Our Reporter

Our Reporter
When machines think: Reframing the ethics of Artificial Intelligence in the global south

When machines think: Reframing the ethics of Artificial Intelligence in the global south

Mahesh Nirmalan MD, FRCA, PhD, FFICM and Roshan Ragel PhD Professor Mahesh Nirmalan is Associate Vice President for Responsible Research Practice at the University of Manchester, UK and Professor Roshan Ragel is Professor of Computer Engineering at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka How we choose to conceptualise Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the cornerstones of the current debate on the ethics of AI. In this context, do we see AI as a tool that has been developed by humans
April 2026 Guest Column
Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan

Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan
From Kilinochchi to Kattankudy, A/L Toppers Emerge Across the North and East

From Kilinochchi to Kattankudy, A/L Toppers Emerge Across the North and East

A Tamil student from the war-affected district of Kilinochchi has topped Sri Lanka’s Physical Science stream. A Muslim student from Kattankudy has ranked first in Commerce. And in Mullaitivu, a young woman from a once-displaced Muslim community has emerged as the district’s top performer and secured a place in medical studies. Jaffna, Sri Lanka — April 1, 2026 In results that have drawn attention beyond the usual examination season headlines, a Tamil student from the war-affected northern dist
April 2026 JM Exclusive
Our Special Correspondent

Our Special Correspondent
Tamil Leaders Raise Plantation Inequality in Talks With Canada

Tamil Leaders Raise Plantation Inequality in Talks With Canada

For generations, the Tamil communities of Sri Lanka’s central highlands have done much of the physical labour that keeps one of the country’s most prized export industries alive. They pick the tea. They tend the estates. And yet, by nearly every measure of human welfare — housing, land ownership, mortality — they remain among the most marginalised people in the country. That contradiction was the animating argument when Mano Ganesan, the leader of the Tamil Progressive Alliance and a member of
April 2026 Monitor Memo
Our Reporter

Our Reporter