Students are challenging the authorities by posting examination papers online and leaking answers during the exams. Since the thanaweya amma or General Certificate for Secondary Education, season kicked off on 8 June five exams have been leaked via Facebook and Twitter, Arabic, English, and statistics among them. Nearly half million students are sitting for the exams. The results will determine which university and faculty they can join. Exams are scheduled to end on 29 June. Papers already leaked include those for both the one-year and two-year systems. Mohamed Abdel-Wahed, Deputy Head of the Interior Ministry's General Directorate for Information, announced in a press conference this week that six people, including two students — Mohamed Moustafa Abdel-Gawad and Mahmoud Mustafa Hussein — have been implicated in the leaking of exam papers, and answers, minutes before exams started. Abdel-Gawad and Hussein between them administer two Facebook pages and one Twitter page. The four others accused also administer web pages. “All defendants have been referred to public prosecution for investigation,” Abdel-Wahed said. Confiscated laptops belonging to the accused are alleged to have been used to store exam papers. Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat ordered the closure of all Facebook groups leaking the exams, only for new pages to pop up. Chao Ming Leaks Thanaweya Amma Exams, the webpage administered by Abdel-Gawad which leaked the statistics exam, has more than 65,000 followers. Lovers of the Minister of Education, Cheating Cammandos, Let me Cheat, Thanks — other pages which have posted both papers and answers — have more than 150,000 followers between them. Page administrators say their aim in leaking the exams is to expose the shortcomings of a corrupt and outdated education system. “We will continue until the education system is fixed. We are thinking about leaking test answers next year, including those for the primary and preparatory stages,” read one post on Facebook. A few days after the Al-Azhar thanaweya amma calculus exam was leaked the same institution's mechanics paper appeared online, forcing Al-Azhar education officials to cancel the exam. The leaks, says Gaafar Abdullah, Al-Azhar Educational Institutes Head, originated in Kafr Al-Sheikh. The leaked exams have been rescheduled for 25 June. The flurry of leaks, says education expert Adli Reda, has exposed shortcomings across the education system and cast a dramatic spotlight on the urgent need for reforms. Though it is no secret that android phones can facilitate cheating in exams “invigilators who supervise students in exam rooms do not inspect the examinees,” says Reda. “We are not inspected before entering the exam room. The device used to detect mobile phones is broken. I have passed through it and into the examination hall with a phone in my pocket and nothing happened,” says thanaweya amma student Shehab Mohamed. Mohamed reports seeing students use mobile phones in exams, particularly during the first 15 minutes, only for no action to be taken. “Education official need to seriously consider developing the education system,” says Reda. “I don't mean tinkering with it, removing or adding parts of the curriculum. Education is at the root of all our problems. It is high time we developed our own system rather than adopt systems from developed countries.”
