Tunisia – 54 fraud attempts foiled during first baccalaureate exam

Minister of Education, Salwa Abbasi, reported that the ministry has executed several measures to enhance the monitoring of written tests for the 2024 baccalaureate examination. Among the outcomes of these measures, 54 cases of cheating were thwarted during the first session of the first day of the main session.

In an interview with TAP on Wednesday, the minister clarified that the Ministry of Education has restructured the monitoring process to address certain defects by digitizing the control of works and centralizing the monitoring from the ministry. This was accomplished by linking the monitoring process with the 26 regional delegations, which enabled a centralized approach.

Abbasi stressed that this procedure guarantees fairness among all educators, as the distribution of control tasks is based on punctual monitoring by the ministry. Exemptions from the process are organized solely based on a medical committee, eliminating the possibility of evading control tasks and ending the injustices and favouritism that have affected the examination monitoring processes in previous years. This fairness ensures that no teachers are unfairly burdened with additional tasks.

Additionally, the Minister of Education decided to deploy inspectors to the 586 examination centres across all regions, ensuring a constant inspection process by the central services of the ministry and regional education delegations.

To stop fraudulent activities, the ministry isolated examination rooms from media rooms in certain areas after learning that some rooms were accessible to media rooms. This measure seeks to combat the exploitation of media for fraudulent purposes.

For the first time, the ministry has also banned the carrying of telephones at the examination centers for teachers and inspectors, as part of the monitoring system with students. Only the individual in charge of the examination center is permitted to carry a telephone to maintain contact with the delegation and the Ministry of Education.

Concerning the incident where copies of the philosophy test for the computer science and humanities divisions were published roughly 20 minutes after the test began, Abbasi revealed that the person responsible for this breach is an adult and not a student. She noted that moderators outside Tunisia manage most of the pages that published these copies.

Abbasi noted that some students are victims of organized criminal networks involved in fraud and cheating. She stressed that the last decade has created an impression of “the absence of a global political spirit that guides the overall educational spirit.” Some students, she explained, are victims of fraud because they grew up in an environment where private tutoring is widespread and their parents cannot afford it. Others belong to groups that have suffered from marginalization and poverty for decades.

Abbasi concluded that fighting cheating in national exams and other areas requires developing a national strategy based on cybersecurity, securing the digital space, and protecting its use against dangerous activities related to fraudulent trafficking.