Twelve officials from the Ministry of Education were arrested on Monday over the nationwide secondary school exams leak.
The Cairo Prosecution said the officials linked to the leak work in the committees responsible for drafting the exams and the exam printing process, Masr Al-Arabia reported.
Sameh Kamal, head of the administrative prosecution, ordered on Monday that investigations be immediately opened into the incident.
Arabic-language and religious studies exams for around 560,000 students, who started their exams on Sunday for their pre-university certificate, were leaked on a Facebook page.
The Ministry of Interior released a statement on Sunday confirming the arrest of the two admins who run the Facebook page. According to the statement, the two defendants admitted that they are responsible for running the page.
A parliament session on Sunday discussed the leak of the nationwide thanaweya amma secondary school exams, after the Ministry of Education confirmed the incident.
Members of parliament held Minister of Education Al-Helaly Al-Sherbiny responsible for the incident, particularly as the minister previously confirmed that there is a whole committee to prevent exam leaks and cheating.
According to state-owned Al-Ahram, several MPs called on the minister to resign as the incident reveals his “failure”. Several other MPs considered the incident as a breach of national security.
Several MPs filed a report to the parliamentary speaker, demanding that Al-Sherbiny be summoned for questioning and to testify about the incident.
Gamal Sheiha, head of parliament’s Education Committee, said that the exam leak should not be passed over, as Al-Sherbiny had confirmed last week to the committee that sufficient precautions had been taken to prevent any leaks or cheating during exams. The minister promised that this year would be different from previous years.
MP Haitham Al-Hariri said that leaked exam papers is a common problem that occurs almost each year, despite changing ministers. He called for a committee to be formed to investigate the incident and for the results to be disclosed to the public.
Furthermore, MP Mohammed Al-Husseiny said that Al-Sherbiny is unsuccessful and unqualified for his position, and is also unable to find alternative solutions for the problems in the education sector.
The Ministry of Education released a statement on Sunday admitting that the religious studies exam was leaked and postponed it to 29 June until an alternative exam can be held.
The Facebook page that leaked the exam had several demands that include abolishing the current system of applying to universities, raising teachers’ salaries, and improving their financial, social, and cultural status.
The demands further included improvement of the curriculums and the way they are taught to students, and involving technology in the teaching process to encourage students to study advanced materials.
A similar leak took place last year, resulting in a presidential decree being issued stipulating that a fine ranging from EGP 20,000-50,000 will be imposed on those who leak exam papers and/or a jail sentence of no more than one year.
