Parts of the ‘English Language’ exam for Thanaweya Amma high school students was leaked on Wednesday on social media cheat pages, according to state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper.
Cheat pages have circulated sections they claimed were part of the test paper on Facebook after nearly 20 minutes from the exam’s starting time.
Sources of the ministry of education revealed that they are investigating whether the parts circulated are actually from the exam or not, Al-Ahram reported.
However, sources argued that the circulation of parts of the ‘English Language’ exam does not mean that it is fully leaked.
Since Thanaweya Amma students began last Saturday their national exams across the country, parts of each exam, if not all, have been leaked and circulated on online cheat pages, sometimes with possible answers.
Despite the repetition of the action over recent years, the ministry has failed to control the leaking process but set some rules to limit it.
During the exams, students are not allowed to possess a mobile or any electronic device (even if they are switched off). Anyone who attempts to print, publish, broadcast, or circulate exams can face more than a year of imprisonment and a fine that is between EGP 10,000 and EGP 50,000 as well as being deprived of taking exams.
Students already took exams in ‘Religious Education’, ‘Arabic Language,’ ‘Economics’ and ‘Statistics.’ Parts of all previous exams were reportedly leaked on cheat pages.
Earlier, the ministry said that it identified the student responsible for leaking parts of the ‘Arabic Language’ exam last Saturday. The student, who was taking his own exam in an exam panel in Damietta, has been subjected to some disciplinary sanctions. The student reportedly took a photo of the exam and published it on social media cheat pages.
According to Al-Ahram, the ministry also took disciplinary measures against the head and the supervisors of the exam panel in Damietta including the deduction of parts of their salaries and depriving some of them of monitoring exam panels for five years.
A total of 669,749 students are taking their exams in 2019, according to the education ministry. A number of 373 students take the STEM exams in 11 exam panels across the country, with 192 visually impaired students also taking their exams in 23 panels. Meanwhile, 40 female and male students take their exams in hospitals. Whereas 45 students take their exams in prison.
