Tamil Tiger exam success sparks jibes

The Tamil rebels have frequently used children as guerilla fighters

By Frances Harrison in Colombo

The children of Vellupilai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels fighting the Sri Lankan Government, are reported to have passed their "O-level" examinations with flying colours.

But government officials say that the rebel leader's children sat for the exams separately in a secret jungle hideout so they have no way of establishing if they were properly supervised.

Prabhakaran's children were believed to be living abroad

Sri Lanka has an unusual arrangement whereby thousands of exam papers are transported into rebel areas every year by international agencies like the United Nations and the Red Cross.

This is how a generation of schoolchildren who have grown up knowing nothing but war obtain internationally recognised qualifications.

Outstanding results

Now the Sri Lankan military says that the children of the rebel leader, Vellupilai Prabhakaran, were among the 1,500 students sitting for "O-level" and "A-level" exams last year.

Mr Prabhakaran's son and daughter are reported to have taken the exams at the same time.

Charles Anthony, named after a trusted Prabhakaran lieutenant killed in the early 1980s, earned 10 distinctions and one credit pass.

His sister Thuwa Duwargha, named after a Hindu goddess said to be a destroyer of all evil, had nine distinctions and one credit pass.

Accusations of cheating

In fact, the pair got the top results of any children in rebel areas.

Needless to say, these results are fast becoming a propaganda battlefield, with one state newspaper implying the rebel leader's children might have cheated.

As it is, the Sri Lankan military has tried to say that the Tamil Tiger leader thinks nothing of sending other people's children to war, while his study for exams.

Until now many people assumed the rebel leader had sent his wife and children abroad for safety, but now they believe the whole family is hiding in the jungles of northern Sri Lanka.