The GCE (O/L) examination 2025 is scheduled to be held from tomorrow (17) until 26 February.

The examination will take place at 3,545 centres across the country, as well as at seven special examination centres. A total of 451,463 students are expected to sit the exam, and, of them, 382,249 are school candidates. About 69,214 private candidates are scheduled to take the examination.

The Department of Examinations advises candidates to prepare for the exam using only the timetable provided with the admission card bearing the heading ‘G.C.E. Ordinary Level Examination 2025 (2026).’

Lawyers, who are members of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), last evening decided not to appear in courts across the country today (16) in protest against the fatal shooting of Attorney-at-Law Buddhika Mallawarachchi and his wife at a supermarket car park in Akuregoda, Thalangama, on Friday.

The decision was taken at a special general meeting of BASL members held last evening, BASL President Rajeev Amarasuriya said.

The meeting, convened under Article 12A on the direction of the Executive Committee, was held at 3 pm at the Dr H W Jayawardena QC Auditorium, BASL Secretariat, Colombo 12. BASL Secretary Chathura Galhena told the media that the purpose was to discuss the incident and decide on the Association’s next course of action.

At the conclusion of the meeting, lawyers marched from the BASL premises to the Superior Courts complex in Colombo to signal their protest over the killings.

by Nishan S Priyantha

Public optimism in Sri Lanka has risen sharply, with government approval remaining strong and economic confidence reaching a four-year high, according to the latest “Mood of the Nation” poll conducted by Verité Research.

The survey, released in Colombo yesterday (15), found that the Government’s approval rating stood at 65 percent in early February 2026. With a margin of error of ±3 percentage points, the figure remains statistically stable compared to the 62 percent recorded a year earlier. The disapproval rating remained low and unchanged from February 2025. The polling partner for the survey was Vanguard Survey (Pvt) Ltd.

For the first time in the four-year history of the poll, the proportion of respondents rating current economic conditions as “good” or “excellent” exceeded those who described them as “poor”.

Perceptions of the country’s economic direction also showed marked improvement. Sixty-four percent of respondents said the economy was “getting better”, up from 55 percent a year ago, while the share of those who believed it was “getting worse”

remained largely unchanged. The proportion expressing no opinion declined, suggesting greater certainty and optimism about the economic outlook.

All economic sentiment indicators are aggregated into an Economic Confidence Index ranging from minus 100 to plus 100. The index rose to +36, a substantial increase from +14 recorded a year earlier and the highest level since the poll’s inception.

A majority of respondents (59 percent) said they were satisfied with “the way things are going” in the country — the first time in four years that overall satisfaction has surpassed the 50 per cent mark.

When evaluating the present administration against past governments, respondents gave the highest positive rating for efforts to reduce drugs and crime, ranking this above progress in curbing corruption.

The nationally representative survey was based on a multi-stage, randomised sample of 1,048 Sri Lankan adults from separate households and was conducted between 24 January and 3 February 2026. It was designed with a maximum sampling error margin of ±3.0 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. Verité Research noted that error margins could be affected by implementation-related lapses.

The “Mood of the Nation” poll forms part of Verité Research’s syndicated survey instrument, which feeds into its regular macro-political briefings and enables other organisations to include tailored questions to gauge public sentiment.