Sơn La education officials arrested for high school exam cheating scandal

SƠN LA — The Investigation Police Agency under the Police Department in the northern province of Sơn La on Tuesday arrested three education officials and banned two others from leaving their homes as part of an investigation into high school exam cheating in the province.

The arrested officials were Nguyễn Thị Hồng Nga, from the local authority of examination and quality management; Đặng Hữu Thủy, vice rector of Tô Hiệu High School, and member of the multiple-choice test marking group; and Lò Văn Huynh, deputy head of the local authority of examination and quality management, member of the exam steering board, and head of the secretariat.

The two officials under house arrest are Cầm Thị Bun Sọn, an official at the provincial Department of Education and Training, and member of the multiple-choice test marking group; Trần Xuân Yến, who held multiple roles as deputy director of the provincial Department of Education and Training, member of the exam steering board, vice chairman of the provincial exam board, standing deputy head of the test marking board, and head of the multiple-choice test marking group.

The five face charges of “abusing power or position in performance of official duties” under Article 356 of the Criminal Code.

During the national high school examination in June, more than 10,300 candidates in Sơn La Province sat for the exam. Their average score was 4.21, the lowest rate in the country, but the number of candidates from Sơn La who got scores of 9 or more (out of 10) in mathematics and physics was reportedly much higher than those in other cities and provinces.

Among 11 candidates with the highest scores nationwide was a female candidate from Sơn La with two scores of 10 in history and English.

Noticing the abnormal results, the Ministry of Education and Training sent inspectors to the province. Inspectors then found illegal interventions in storing and rating candidates’ exam sheets.

Before Sơn La, serious exam cheating was found to have occurred in the northern mountainous province of Hà Giang. — VNS