The Ministry of Education confirmed on Sunday the nationwide thanaweya amma secondary school exams were leaked on their first day, adding that it would launch an investigation into the incident.
The Arabic-language and religion exams for around 560,000 students, who kicked off exams for their pre-university certificate, were leaked on a Facebook page that was also the source for a similar leak last year.
The ministry issued a statement Sunday afternoon admitting that the religion exam had been leaked and announced that the exam would be cancelled until an alternative exam could be held on 29 June.
The Facebook page that leaked the exams also listed a number of “demands” to prevent further leaking of exams, which it claims has been an ongoing problem for four years. The demands include abolishing the current system of admission to universities which depend only on the thanaweya amma grades and replacing it with “abilities tests” in addition to developing curricula and focusing on the working conditions of teachers.
A Cairo prosecution office is investigating a suspect of administrating the aforementioned Facebook page. According to state media, the suspect is a 19-year-old student.
Following similar leaks last year, a law was issued by a presidential decree in October that stipulates a fine of no less than EGP 20,000 and no more than EGP 50,000 for exam leakers, and/or jail time of no less than a year.
