The head of Egypt's Education Sector Reda Hegazi announced on Thursday that the results of the year-end exams for high school (Thanaweya Amma) will be announced on 20 July, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported. The examinations started on 4 June and are set to end on 24 June. "The [education] ministry called on exam graders to maintain caution and accuracy so students and parents would be reassured," Hegazi affirmed. Nearly 600,000 Thanaweya Amma students must take highly competitive exams annually in a number of subjects at the end of their final year of high school. The grades determine what universities and faculties students may attend. Last year, test questions were leaked online through a Facebook page called Chao Ming, with students protesting after the education ministry decreed they must sit in for new exams. Nearly 120,000 out of 600,000 students filed grievances against their examinations results last year. This year, Egypt's new national high school booklet exam system was implemented to reduce the possibility of errors occurring in the correction process and eliminate the risk of exam leaks. The new system requires students to submit their answers in the question sheet, as opposed to the previous system where answers were submitted in a separate sheet. The new system also focus more on questions requiring short answers to cover most of the curriculum, thus moving away from structural questions and the traditional focus on memorisation. In 2015, a presidential decree stated those who leak exam questions face a year in prison as well as fines ranging from EGP 20,000 to EGP 50,000.
