Iraqi PM rebukes education minister over leaked national exam questions

Iraqi PM rebukes education minister over leaked national exam questions

Jun 13, 2022

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi reprimanded Education Minister Ali Dlemi and the head of the examination committee.

The PM decided to suspend the chairman and members of the standing committee of the ninth-grade national examinations and Qasim Akili, director-general of education in Rasafa II, over leaked national exam questions.

Al-Kadhimi stressed that the directorate of education of the region is responsible for overseeing the ninth grade and other grades and can coordinate with the Ministry of Education and the relevant parties.

National exams are regularly leaked before exams start. "I bought the questions for two hundred USD, one and half hours before the start of the exams," a ninth-grader told KurdSat English.

Ninth-grade national exams scheduled for June 2 were delayed indeterminably in all Iraqi governorates except the Kurdistan region after leaked math exam questions. The exam questions were soon posted on social media, available for every student to view before the exams started.

On June 4, Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) announced the arrest of three education ministry employees involved in leaking the questions on direct orders from the prime minister. It is probably the first known case of an intelligence agency involved in securing exam questions. The INIS, in coordination with the interior and education ministries, launched an investigation into the incident.

Though leaking questions have become a phenomenon in Iraq, the PM’s decision is the first to investigate the misconduct.

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