"We suspect sabotage," stated Nalaka Kaluwewe, an official with Sri Lanka's Ministry of Education. "We are currently undergoing education reform, and this could be an attempt to obstruct it."

Kaluwewe's statement came as Sri Lankan authorities launched a criminal investigation on 2/1 into the scandal involving an English textbook for 6th-grade students. The document suggested that students could find friends to improve their language skills by accessing an online chat website for gay individuals.

Homosexual relations are illegal in Sri Lanka and can result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years, although few cases have been prosecuted in recent years. Efforts to decriminalize homosexuality currently face strong opposition from conservative Buddhist and Catholic clergy in the country.

Sri Lankan authorities have ordered the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to block access to the website.

Female students in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 5/2023. Photo: AFP.

Kaluwewe stated that the 165-page textbook had been reviewed by three different teams, including English language professors, but no one detected the error. The page containing the link to the gay website was removed from 400,000 printed copies before they were sent to schools for the new academic term.

Additionally, the document contained several spelling errors. The compiling team admitted to writing the book with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools.

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Education has filed a complaint with the police and launched an internal investigation to clarify the cause of the error. Manjula Vithanapathirana, head of the National Institute of Education, the agency responsible for the textbook, resigned during the ongoing investigation.

By Pham Giang (According to AFP)