By Youssef Ayman
A new law has been issued to punish exam leakers, stipulating prison sentences and monetary fines. President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued the law in a presidential decree on 7 October.
Exam leaking has been an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in Egypt over the past years. The practice is highly abundant in the public schools diploma examinations, for the Thanawya Amma system, in which the majority of Egyptians are enrolled.
The law stipulates a fine of no less than EGP 20,000 and no more than EGP 50,000 for leakers, and/or jail time of no less than a year.
The law further states that the punishments will be applied to anyone who participates in exam leaks in any possible way, beginning with printing exams and ending with the recent methods of leaking exams on social media outlets.
In previous academic years, a number of exams have continuously been leaked through several outlets, such as WhatsApp and Facebook. The Ministry of Education has intensified security measures to limit the leaks, but on numerous occasions has failed to stop the answers from circulating on conversation groups.
Similarly, the Ministry of Interior has arrested several page administrators accused of running Facebook pages that leak answers.
