Student sentenced to a year in prison for leaking high school exams

Saturday 16-07-2016 02:07 PM

Egyptian high school students protested in front of the ministry of education on Monday June 27, 2016 against what they see as an "oppressive" educational system (ASWAT MASRIYA/ Jihad Abaza)

CAIRO, Jul 16 (Aswat Masriya) – A Giza court sentenced a student to one year in prison on Saturday for running a Facebook page that leaked high school exam questions.

In addition, al-Warraq misdemeanor court ordered the defendant, identified as a 19-year-old higher institute student, to pay an EGP 20,000 fine.

The prosecution accused the defendant of launching and managing the Facebook page "Chao Ming leaks general secondary certificate exams", which leaked exams and model answers of the general secondary certificate (Thanaweya Amma) as well as the al-Azhar secondary certificate. He was also accused of aiding students in cheating.

Prosecution had arrested and detained the student on June 6, stating that security tracked the student's phone identification number and matched them with the numbers for the Facebook page.

The "Chao Ming leaks general secondary certificate exams" page is among a number of other Facebook pages that have actively participated in leaking high school exam papers this year.

Several cases of exam leaks, mainly over social media, have been reported throughout the exam period, prompting the ministry of education to cancel and reschedule a number of exams. The ministry's decision sparked a number of protests in several parts of the country, where hundreds of high school students called for the minister to resign.

The prosecution had previously ordered the detention of a number of ministry of education officials over accusations of leaking exam questions.

The Thanaweya Amma exams are held in the final year of Egypt's secondary education stage before students are set to enroll in university.

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