KUWAIT: The number of students who were banned from taking their finals in the first week of exams this year has dropped by nearly 80 percent compared to last year, the Ministry of Education announced. The ministry says the drop is due to the measures put in place to counter cheating and curb violations of exam rules, which included a social media awareness campaign for students to prepare them for exam season and more thorough inspections targeting electronics, such as mobile phones, at exam centers.
"Senior officials at the education ministry are feeling good after one week had elapsed since the start of the 12th grade (high school) examinations,” a statement released by the ministry quoting its spokesman Ahmad Al-Wuhaida reads. The ministry’s "plan” has been allegedly reflected in exam rooms, where the statement noted a "prevailing” commitment from students to the regulations, "leading to the elimination of the negative phenomena commonly seen in previous years”. The results signify a "major success” for the ministry, the statement said.
Bans by the day The number of students caught in violation of exam rules and subsequently kicked out of the exam room has fell by more than 80 percent for the arts section and 77 percent for the science section compared to last year. On the first day of exams last Sunday, there were 36 students who were banned from taking the math exam in the science section due to breaking exam regulations, which usually means cheating. That’s compared to 306 cases during the second term of the previous year 2021/2022.
In the French exam of the arts section there were 26 cases only, compared with 200 cases during the second term of the year 2021/2022. On Monday, the second day of exams, there were 62 suspensions in the Islamic education for both sections compared with 249 cases in the second term of 2021/2022. There were 37 science students disqualified from taking the biology exam on Tuesday and 31 arts students who were disqualified from taking the geography exam.
Last year, the numbers were 102 and 161 respectively. During the English language test, there were 55 suspensions in both streams compared with 183 suspensions for the same period last year. Wuhaida said the reshuffling of heads of committees at the education zones has contributed to the ministry’s success and was well received by parents.