Egypt has amended its laws against exam cheating, incorporating prison terms of up to seven years for those caught cheating in the national school exams.
According to local media outlet Al Ahram, the North African country’s ministry of education on Monday announced in a statement that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ratified the law last week to curb exam violations.
“Anyone who prints, publishes, broadcasts or promotes exam questions and answers by any means will face two to seven years jail and a fine of EGP 100,000 ($5,524) to 200,000 ($11,049),” the statement added.
The new law is aimed at eliminating exam malpractices during the national high school examination known as Thanaweya Amma.
The exam in written annually by more than 500,000 students seeking to get admission into the country’s universities.
Last year’s exam was marred by widespread cheating with local reports indicating that at least two test papers and their answers had been shared on Facebook ahead of the exam.
Several suspected administrators of a number of Facebook pages that leaked questions and answers were arrested.
The new penalties will be imposed whether the violation is made before or during the exams and only on cases that occurred after the June 15 ratification, the statement said.
