Five Jordanians being questioned in Sudan after exam leaks

AMMAN — Five Jordanian students have been detained by Sudanese security authorities and are being interrogated over claims that secondary school national exam test papers were leaked and obtained by some Jordanian students in the African country, a lawmaker said Sunday.

“We have official information from the Foreign Ministry and the Jordan embassy in Sudan that five Jordanians are still in the custody of the Sudanese authorities. We were told they might be released by late Sunday, but there is no information yet,” MP Mustafa Rawashdeh told The Jordan Times.

“The Sudanese authorities want to know who leaked the exam questions. It is certainly a Sudanese local who leaked the questions and the authorities want to know who is involved,” said the lawmaker.

Over the past few months, several Jordanian high school students started travelling to nearby countries, including Sudan, to complete the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination, believing that exams are easier abroad and that they can achieve higher scores to be able to study at Jordanian universities and major in specialties they desire, said the lawmaker.

Students’ secondary school scores decide which university they can apply to and what majors they can study.   

The Foreign Ministry was not available for comment in spite of several attempts by The Jordan Times, but the Education Ministry said in a statement that secondary school certificates from Sudan will not be officially accredited in Jordan.

In the statement, carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the ministry said any secondary education certificate released by Arab schools in Sudan is also not officially accredited, noting that the decision is due to the leak of exam questions.