AMMAN — Investigations began on Thursday into the alleged leak of a General Secondary Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) test paper prior to the start of the examination session on Tuesday.

 

Al Yarmouk local satellite channel showed a paper earlier this week that the station claimed to be the exact form of the geology test on air minutes before the start of the exam session, which immediately sparked demands for the education ministry’s explanations.

 

On Thursday, the Ministry of Education and the Jordan Teachers Association (JTA) held a meeting to discuss measures to be taken in relation to the incident, during which the two sides decided to open two separate probes into the matter.

 

“If it is true that the exam questions have been leaked, then this must have been in the critical period, which starts two hours prior to the exam, and there is no way they could have been leaked before that,” JTA Deputy President Hussam Masheh told The Jordan Times.

 

He explained that the ministry provides schools with the exam papers two hours before the start of the test and it keeps the papers sealed inside special envelopes before giving them out.

 

“It is obvious that there is a network that is working to ruin the integrity of the Tawjihi… the efforts of this group have been evident in the current winter session,” he said, adding that the association will investigate teachers, students and the channel that broadcast the exam’s questions.

 

Meanwhile, Education Ministry Secretary General Sattam Awwad said the geology exam will not be cancelled and the ministry is committed to looking into the matter.

 

He added that the channel in question did not send a copy of the document it claims to possess and prove the leaking of the exam questions.

 

In a statement issued by Al Yarmouk TV, the channel said it contacted all concerned parties, including Education Minister Wajih Owais before going on air in order to verify the issue, but had received no response.

 

“We have officially addressed the minister to appear on a special programme to talk about the incident before broadcasting, but he turned down the request,” the channel said, noting that it received a copy of the question paper at 11:45am, around 45 minutes ahead of the exam.

 

“The minister asked that the paper be sent to his office via fax and then neglected the matter, so we decided to air the news at 12:20pm,” according to the statement.

 

‘A scandal’

 

According to observers, the incident was the “peak” of the cheating “plague” that was evident in the current winter session, which ends on January 20.

 

“It is a scandal which has definitely tarnished the credibility of the Tawjihi exam,” President of the National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights (Thabahtoona) Fakher Daas told The Jordan Times.

 

He noted that the paper shown on TV lacked the ministry’s seal, which means that it was leaked by the exams’ supervisors or people from inside the ministry.

 

The activist said that cheating has been “rampant” during the current session, citing an incident that took place in Jerash, during which the answers of the questions were leaked via mosque speakers.

 

“The Cabinet should start an immediate investigation into what is happening inside Tawjihi examination halls,” Daas said.

 

Amani Odeh, a Tawjihi student, said she feels “lost” and “confused” when it comes to rumours about the question leaks, saying that it is “unfair” that some students get to know the questions before the start of the exam.

 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education denied as baseless news reports claiming that Thursday’s English language exam was leaked, stressing that the questions posted on news websites were completely different from the real exam.