FILE - Group of Thanaweya Amma students revising before the exam
CAIRO – 15 June 2018: The Internet Police blocked on Friday 12 more pages on social media for leaking this year’s Thanaweya Amma (high school) exams.
This came within the framework of the Ministry of Interior's plan to combat various forms of crime. Last week, a total of 15 pages were closed over the same reason.
On June 10, Egyptian authorities arrested an academic student in Al-Azhar University over accusations of creating a Facebook page that facilitates cheating by leaking exams of Thanaweya Amma (secondary education or high schools) for money in al-Zaqaziq, Sharqia.
An Internet Police source previously told Egypt today that the Department of Internet Crime and Information Networks has taken serious steps to combat the leak of exam questions and answers by monitoring all these pages.
CAIRO - 6 June 2018: The Internet Police, in coordination with the Ministry of Education, blocked on Tuesday 15 pages on social media which attempted to leak this year's Thanaweya Amma exams. This came within the framework of the Ministry of Interior's plan to combat various forms of crime.
The head of the General Examinations Council, Reza Hijazi, warned parents against paying any fees for leaked exams.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Education issued a statement on Monday denying publishing any economy exam on social media. The ministry also said it had seized 13 cases of fraud in the economy and statistics exam.
In the same context, some members of Parliament confirmed that the booklet system, which was implemented last year, proved successful in dealing with the phenomenon of leaking exams that has been predominant during exams for the past few years.
CAIRO - 4 June 2018: Inside Egyptian houses, parents of school children would wince at the mere mention of the "Thanaweya Amma", (Egypt's national high school), which is the last educational stage Egyptian school students go through before going to college.
Thanaweya Amma is the gateway to university in Egypt, as end-of-year grades determine what university each student will attend. Some do not enter the university they dream of due to low grades. Minimum grades of acceptance at each university are determined according to the overall grades each year. For example, entrance into certain faculties like medicine, engineering and dentistry require a high grade exceeding 95 percent.
Minister of Education Tarek Shawki said that Egypt will sign a $500 million deal with the World Bank to fund the government’s educational 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 aims to 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 like the previous system.
A presidential decree issued in 2015 made leaking exams a criminal offense, leading to a maximum of one year in prison or a fine between LE 20,000 and LE 50,000.
On June 3, 2018, around 646,000 students started the national high school, Thanaweya Amma, exams, applying for the second year of the booklet system.
Additional reporting by Walaa Ali, Amr Mohamed Qandil and Nourhan Magdi
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