Kuwait Times, Monday, Jan 30, 2023 | Rajab 8, 1444
Lawmakers call for action over exam cheating scandal
Kuwait:
Ten lawmakers on Sunday demanded the National
Assembly convene a special session to debate a school exam cheating scandal in
which as many as 40,000 students benefited. The request to hold the special
session was filed following a meeting of the Assembly’s education committee with
senior officials of the education ministry, who told the panel they learned
about the scandal only from the media, head of the committee MP Hamad Al-Matar
said.
Matar called on HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah to dismiss
all senior officials of the education ministry including the undersecretary and
assistant undersecretaries who briefed the panel on the issue. Authorities have
uncovered a network of some 17 people, including 11 teachers, who leaked
questions of the higher secondary exams that were held a few weeks ago.
According to reports, the network leaked the questions and answers to students
through WhatsApp and other means.
The leak happened despite strict procedures adopted by the education ministry in
sending out the questions to a large number of exam centers. Matar described the
cheating as an “ongoing process of destroying the people of Kuwait”, adding that
cheating in exams has become a “culture” in the country and must be fought. He
said the special session is scheduled to debate a draft law that aims at
eliminating cheating at school exams by imposing a jail term of up to seven
years for those who leak and distribute questions to students.
In their request to convene a special Assembly session to discuss cheating in
schools, the lawmakers said they wanted the debate to inquire about government
policies on fighting cheating in exams. They said they also want to inquire
about reports alleging that some private schools help their students in exams to
raise the success percentage to boost the image of the schools.