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A photo collection and videos spread fast across Facebook and other social media claiming that an English teacher at one of the island’s leading girls’ schools had taken part in an international fashion and modelling pageant held in Malaysia, representing Sri Lanka.
The posts claimed she wore a bikini at the pageant, that this brought disgrace to the teaching profession, and that a group of teachers at the school had asked the principal to take immediate disciplinary action against her. Shared alongside several photo stills said to show her at the pageant, the post drew heavy debate among a large number of users. But is the woman in these images really a Sri Lankan teacher? We investigated. Here is what we found.
Social Media Posts:
This is how we investigated the accuracy of the claim.
Fact-Check:
Although the posts were shared, they cited no official source. If such an incident had genuinely involved a local schoolteacher, information about her would almost certainly have surfaced on social media, yet we found none. So, we ran the photos that supposedly showed a local teacher at the modelling pageant through a reverse image search.
The Woman in the Photo Is a Young Woman from Guatemala
The reverse search led us to a short Facebook video carrying the same stills shared on social media. The video shows the same young woman described as a local teacher. But it identifies her as “Our Queen Monja Blanca 2026–2027,” names her as Jeyme Stefany Hernandez Reina, and gives her region as San Juan Chamelco.
On the same Facebook account, we also found a video in which she introduces herself, speaking in Spanish, in connection with the pageant.
In it, she states her hometown and identity, saying she comes from San Juan Chamelco in Alta Verapaz, a town with a living Indigenous culture.
She adds that she is 25 years old and holds a technical degree in social work from Universidad Rafael Landivar and that her main goal is to proudly represent her beloved San Juan Chamelco and bring it recognition.
Accordingly, she states that she is a young woman living in the San Juan Chamelco area of Guatemala, a Central American country.
Checking this young woman’s Facebook account, we also found that she had shared videos of other moments from the same pageant, like this, this, and this.
The Pageant Said to Be Held in Malaysia Was Actually Held in Guatemala
Jeyme Stefany took part in the “Nuestra Belleza Monja Blanca 2026–2027” beauty pageant, organised on 11 July 2026 by the Municipality of Coban (Municipalidad de Coban) in the Alta Verapaz province of Guatemala. Contrary to what social media claimed, this was not a pageant held in Malaysia.
The pageant is named after “Monja Blanca” (the white orchid), Guatemala’s national flower.
The Coban municipality officially announced the call for applications for the pageant, with one representative from each of the 17 municipalities of Alta Verapaz, like this.
A total of 15 young women representing municipalities of Alta Verapaz entered the pageant, and among the six finalists who reached the final round was Jeyme Stefany Hernandez Reina. The regions the six finalists represented were as follows:
- Lisbeth Maria Alejandra Ramirez Lima – represented Cahabon and won the crown this year.
- Maria de los Angeles de la Cruz Quej – Santa Cruz, Verapaz.
- Joselyn Alexandra Coy Teni – Coban.
- Adriana Sarahi Paz Munoz – Fray Bartolome de las Casas.
- Jeyme Stefany Hernandez Reina – San Juan Chamelco.
- Mia Belen Garcia Caal – La Tinta.
This confirms that the event was a beauty pageant held within Guatemala and that no one took part in it representing any other country.
A photo set showing these contestants presenting themselves in swimwear, which formed the basis of the viral social media post, can be found here. A local independent digital media page based in the San Pedro Carcha area of Alta Verapaz province, Guatemala, also published a video about Jeyme Stefany Hernandez Reina while reporting on the pageant.
The grand final was held on 11 July 2026 at the INJUD (INJAV) sports complex hall in Coban with great fanfare and was broadcast live on social media and local channels.
Lisbeth Alejandra Ramirez Lima, representing Cahabon, won the crown this year, and she was officially crowned by the previous year’s queen (2025–2026), Sindy Gabriela Rosales.
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Conclusion:
The claim that an English teacher at a well-known Sri Lankan girls’ school went to a fashion pageant in Malaysia and appeared in a bikini is entirely false.
The photos and videos actually show Jeyme Stefany Hernandez Reina, a contestant in an official beauty pageant in Guatemala that featured representatives from 17 municipalities. Her images and videos were used to mislead Sri Lankan social media users into believing she was a Sri Lankan teacher.
Title: Truth Behind the Viral Story of a Sri Lanka School Teacher Entering an International Pageant Representing Sri Lanka!
Fact Check By: Pavithra Sandamali
Result: False
