Sudan releases Egyptian and Jordanian students accused of high school cheating
April 5, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese authorities have released 43 Egyptian and Jordanian students who were arrested for cheating in their Sudanese High School Certificate exams.
Sudan’s state minister of education Abdel-Hafiz al-Sadiq Abdel-Rahim announced in a joint press conference with the state foreign minister Kamal al-Din Ismail that 23 Jordanian and 20 Egyptian students have been released.
He said the students were detained by the security to find out the details of the cheating which involved the use of smart mobile phones and sophisticated devices so as not to repeat such acts in the future.
Abdel-Rahim stressed that the exam regulations would be applied against the released students, saying their results will be cancelled and they will deported from the country within hours.
The state minister of education added that 198 Jordanian students have taken the exams this year, saying that 23 of them were arrested for cheating while 20 Egyptian students were arrested for cheating out of the 1400 students who took the exams.
He emphasized that his ministry has no intentions to re-schedule the exams, saying the correction process will begin on 16 April with the participation of 5000 teachers.
For his part, Ismail said that Egypt has dealt with the cheating incident in a civilized manner, pointing to the recent visit of Egypt’s minister of migration Nabeela Makram Obied to Khartoum to discuss the issue.
He added that his ministry summoned the Jordanian ambassador to Khartoum to protest against the harsh criticism by the Jordanian media against Sudan, saying it was not based on sound facts and reliable information on the incident.
Media reports in Aman have quoted the Jordanian ambassador to Khartoum as saying that the students paid money to “brokers” who deal with some officials in the ministry of education and that the Sudanese education system is corrupt.
The state foreign minister disclosed that Sudan intends to review the higher education admission rules in order to ensure that the certificates of the Jordanian students comply with the standards.
He downplayed the Jordanian media campaign against education in Sudan, saying that Jordan continued to demand scholarships in Sudan’s universities every year.
Ismail further revealed that more than 18,000 Jordanian students have so far graduated from the Sudanese universities.
(ST)
