Thanaweya Amma exams kick off Sunday, 2nd year of booklet system

CAIRO – 3 June 2018: Around 646,000 students started the national high school Thanaweya Amma exams Sunday, applying for the second year of the booklet system that aims to eliminate the risk of exams leaks.

Students are set to take the Arabic language and religion exams on Sunday.
The well-secured boxes packed with the exam papers have arrived to the distribution centers on Saturday, according to the Chairman of the General Education Sector Reda Hegazy.

Hegazy warned students from carrying mobile phones during the exams; those who are found carrying their phones on exams, even if turned off, will be exposed to the punishment of fraud.

To secure exams of Sinai students, a protocol was signed with Sinai security department to guard the schools and the transfer of exam papers to committees.

Moreover, buses will be provided to transport the students of the cities of Sheikh Zuwaid and Rafah to Sheikh Zuwaid schools.

A military airplane has transferred on Saturday the exams papers to the schools in Egypt’s border area of Halayeb and Shalateen. An operation room was equipped to assure the examination process and receive complaints from students and the observer.

Also, a protocol of cooperation was signed with the supply, electricity, health and security directorates to provide the needs to observers.

Earlier this year, Minister of Education Tarek Shawki announced that Thanaweya Amma students of one school will take their unified exam that is different from another school’s unified exam. Currently, Thanaweya Amma students nationwide take the same unified exam in each subject.

Shawki said that Egypt will sign a deal with the World Bank for $500 million to fund the government’s plan in the presence of Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr in Washington.

In January 2017, the ministry introduced the new booklet system, which should reduce errors in the correction process and eliminate exam leaks; students are required to answer in the same test sheet and not in a separate answer sheet as the previous system.

A presidential decree issued in 2015 made leaking exams a criminal offense, leading to a maximum of one year in prison on a fine between LE 20,000 and LE 50,000.