Horror over the spread of the Corona virus dominated the atmosphere of the first day of high school exams in Egypt for this year, while the phenomenon of leaking exams continued for the third year in a row.
On Sunday, the exam committees witnessed the accumulation of hundreds of students in front of them and the delay in entering some of them, and the arrival of parents with their children to the gates of the committees increased the crowding.
And the students monitored - through videos and pictures on social media - the crowds that preceded the exams eligible to enter universities, in an atmosphere of tension and fear of infection with the Corona virus.
Local newspapers said that one of the teachers assigned to the monitoring work was excluded after discovering that she was infected with the Corona virus after entering the committee in the Sayyida Zainab area in Cairo, knowing that the teacher explained her arrival that the educational department refused to accept her request to apologize for the observation.
Students and parents said that today was different from what officials promised, in terms of the availability of sterilization devices and the maintenance of social spacing distances.
High school students have repeatedly called for the postponement or cancellation of exams this year, for fear of an outbreak of coronavirus infection between them, but the Egyptian authorities rejected all proposals.
Awareness and behavior
On the other hand, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tariq Shawqi, said that the pictures of gatherings and the noticeable crowds today in front of the high school examination committees confirm that there is a crisis in awareness and behavior among some.
Al-Shorouk newspaper reported that Shawky confirmed in one of the groups the application of WhatsApp, that the Ministry has taken great care on the directorates, departments and committees to take measures to ensure internal organization in the high school committees, but what happens from citizens outside the school is not the ministry’s business.
The overcrowding situation and the Minister of Education's commentary on it caused a great deal of anger on social media, as many activists expressed their fear that the exams would cause high incidence of Coronavirus in the country.
No, but sterilization is rigid!
You are imagining if only one has Corona !!!
God suffices me, and yes, the agent in each one contributed and agreed to this crime !! # General_security_pic.twitter.com/zay77DzS1j
- Mawada El-Mandouh (@MandouhMawada) June 21, 2020
Imagine the president's advisor talking to me that the two days are states of the Coronavirus, the numbers are already high and the Medical Syndicate is demanding to postpone the exams, and despite that, there is no life for those who call 😔 https://t.co/ajh06GRG6y
- humanbeing 💕🇺🇦 (@HNelafuo) June 21, 2020
Whoever gets this is a crime that does not survive, she is silent on her .. She is cheap, why not .. and her life is not a price .. for the benefit of whoever gets this .. Your right to life is more important than you come down to test .. fear for yourself and for your father, mother, sisters and your family .. Blush participates in this crime ...
Egypt is the only country that worked like this .. # General High School pic.twitter.com/05563JBFY5
- Ali Nasser .. (@ AliNass75633377) June 21, 2020
Leaking exams
For the third year in a row, the "Choming" page devoted to cheating on Facebook published parts of the Arabic language exam for high school students in Egypt, 15 minutes after the start of the exam.
The Ministry of Education said that it monitors these pages on communication sites in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, with the aim of arresting those responsible for them and referring them to the Public Prosecution.
In turn, the Ministry of the Interior announced that it had arrested two people for promoting the leakage of high school exams through a social media application.
The ministry added in an official statement that it monitored the circulation of some websites with a news that includes the launch of a tag entitled "Chauming Bigshush High School" through a social networking application, and sending messages to high school students that include exam leaks and their answers about 5 hours before they start.
According to the statement, the security services were able, through technical examination and data collection, to identify those responsible for this activity, which are two university students residing in Beheira and Gharbiya governorates.