MP calls for installing cameras at examination halls in universities

CAIRO – 19 November 2017: Member of the committee on education and scientific research of the House of Representatives Magda Nasr called for installing cameras in all examination halls at Egyptian universities to prevent cheating and lack of discipline.

Nasr said that the decision to install cameras should be taken by the Supreme Council of Universities to generalize it in all Egyptian universities especially since surveillance on exams is related to universities’ regulations.

Nasr will send the proposal to the Ministry of Higher Education as cameras will prevent and detect the growing incidents of mass copying by students and reveal any problem that would happen between students and monitors in the exam.

This move is part of Egypt’s efforts to enhance the quality of the country’s university education and to deter churning out low quality graduates especially since the country’s examination system has been plagued by cheating over the recent years especially in high schools.

In addition, Egyptian universities are taking harsh measures to deter electronic cheating inside examination halls by applying an academic penalty of suspending students for two academic years.

To develop the education system in Egypt, Minister of Education Tarek Shawki presented in September the ministry’s plan to the committee in charge at the parliament.

The ministry plans to enforce students to take multiple exams, while preserving the booklet format implemented in the academic year 2016-2017, which had almost eradicated cheating, common in the former format based mainly on essay questions easily predicted.