KUWAIT: Around 43,000 grade 12 students in public and Arabic private schools started their final exams on Sunday. Education Minister Dr Hamad Al-Adwani toured a number of schools to oversee the process and preparations put in place to facilitate the test-taking process for students, as well as efforts to prevent cheating. Schools opened their doors for 26,576 students in the scientific stream and 17,314 in the literary stream who are taking their end-of-year exams for their last stage of high school.

“The ministry made sure to provide a positive atmosphere for students,” Minister Dr Adwani told reporters, adding that ministry personnel are achieving balance between ensuring a stress-free environment for students while tackling “negative aspects that may happen at examination halls”, such as cheating. The Interior Ministry had announced Thursday that police arrested three people accused of leaking high school final exams for all grades.

Exam proctors examine the final exam papers before distributing them to students.

Students line up for a security check before entering the exam hall.

A proctor hands out exam papers to a student sitting for his first final exam for the 2023-2024 academic year on Sunday.

The suspects operated WhatsApp groups where they gave the tests to subscribers in exchange for money, the ministry explained. “This operation is a testimony to the great efforts exerted by state departments to fight this problem,” Dr Adwani said. He noted that the interior and education ministries had decided to work together in fighting groups that promote cheating and “put an end to the activities of these networks which tarnish the education process and outcomes.”

Dr Adwani, who doubles as Minister of Higher Education, indicated that high school graduates should have seats waiting for them either in Kuwait University, Abdullah Al-Salem University, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training or in the state’s scholarship program for local and international universities.

“Higher education institutions have put a plan to absorb high school graduates and provide seats for every graduate who meets the minimum GPA requirements,” he said. Furthermore, he urged students who will choose to study abroad on their own expense to select universities “that meet quality education standard requirements” and avoid colleges which do not meet those standards “because their degrees will not be accredited by the higher education ministry.”