Dharmalingam Pasupatham, a student at Meesalai Veerasingham College, received a score of 176 to come in first place in the Tamil medium at the grade five scholarship examination held last month.
The student is only 7 marks behind the island's first rankers who scored 183 on the exam.
Three girls from the southern part of the country achieved scores of 183, taking the island's top ranking in the scholarship examination - Mahindani Amaza Hapuarachchi of Colombo Sirimavo Bandaranayake Girls' School, Sajini Anjana Senadeera of Bambalapitiya Lindsey Girls' College, and Manisa Abeysinge of St. Andrew Central College.