Administrators of three Facebook pages that are allegedly responsible for leaking Thanaweya Aama certificate exams and answers in Egypt were arrested by Tuesday by the country’s interior ministry.
Reports emerge that Tuesday’s English Language test was leaked 10 minutes into the exams.
Since the start of the last year of high school examinations on Saturday, test papers have been leaked online, prompting officials to cancel the Religion Studies exam on Sunday as well as investigate possible leaks from within the education ministry.
One of the arrested on Tuesday, according to an interior ministry statement, is a 24-year-old man who runs the Facebook page As You Like which “facilitates cheating inside examination rooms”.
Evidence gathered during the police raid on his house suggest there is “proof” he used the page at the time of the leak. Police also confiscated “a cell phone, a laptop and two SIM cards.”
Two other who were arrested, a 34 and 25 year old run different Facebook pages that leak exams once papers are distributed allowing those students who smuggle phones into examination rooms to cheat.
The administrators also advertise and sell small earphones that would let students cheat undetected, the ministry’s statement said.
A19-year-old student was also arrested on Sunday in Giza for allegedly running a Facebook group called “Chao Ming Cheats”’ which has leaked exams and has over 300,000 likes on the social media network.
On Monday, a cAiro prosecution ordered the detention of 12 officials from the education ministry 15 days pending investigations into the leaking of general secondary certificate exams.
The 12 officials are reported to be employees in the printing houses the education ministry assigned to print the exams or the ministry’s examinations centre.
The Thanaweya Aama exams are a do-or-die for Egyptian high school students since its outcome dictates who goes to what college if any.
More than 500,000 students are sitting for this year’s tests.
