Download The Cambodian Independent Teachers association is calling on the government to punish corrupt exam supervisors who have been accused of selling copies of the national exam to students.
Cases of leaked national examination papers have been reported in 15 provinces including the capital.
As Borin Noun in Phnom Pehn reports students say corruption is ingrained in the education system.
Tep Many is in her final year of school at the Phnom Penh high school.
She paid 25 US dollars to buy a copy of the national exam.
“The exam markers say if we don’t pay them we will fail. So we have to take part in this culture of corruption in student exams in Cambodia.”
Her friend Kea Sok also paid money to his supervisor in order to know the exam questions in advance. He comes from a poor family and had to borrow the money from relatives.
“If I didn’t I wouldn’t pass. Actually, it is not good thing to do but we have no choice. We have to do it because the lazy rich students can easy to do and get good grades.”
They say they brought the exam copies from their supervisors with connections to government education officials.
This year cases of leaked national examination papers to students have been reported in 15 provinces including the capital.
The Cambodian Independent Teachers Association or CITA wants a government investigation.
Rong Chhun is the associations head.
“We ask the ministry of education to start to investigate its graft officials and has to punish them and bring them before the law against the corruption. If the ministry is not able to stop this case the minister and government must resign.”
Ou Eng, the director general of the department of education at the Education Ministry, attempts some students bought exam papers but says they were fake and not the official exam.
But he promises that allegations of corruption will be investigated.
“If any supervisor or examiner was found in the investigation the ministry will be punished and forced to resign from their post and be brought to justice. We also call on parents to check their children’s study.”
In front of school another group of students are talking only about how to buy leaked copies of exams.
They say it costs as little as two dollars per subject so a lum sum of 30 dollars for all subjects.
The tradition has been going on for some years in Cambodia.
Van Nara stand for the national exam three years ago and is now studying at University.
“It is a habit for high school students to pay for papers. It will not be easily stopped. When I did my exam I paid a little bit for a good result but it’s getting worse every year. I want to see the ministry of education take a legal action against corrupt supervisors and the lazy students.”
Sophan Naroth who sat for the exam back in 1999 and now works for a film company says the corruption is devastating for poor students.
“Your might be smart and study hard but then someone else pays for the answers – the poor smart students are the victims of this corrupt system and it’s so unjust for them.”
Exam results will be released on the 19th August 2011 but those who couldn’t pay are not guaranteed to pass.
After the results are announced Borin Noun will take a look at the impact of this corruption on poor student’s future.
Learn English:
Vocabularies:
01) punish: menghukum
02) accused: menuduh
03) ingrained: tertanam
04) in advance: sebelumnya
05) attempts: mencoba menjelaskan
06) allegations: tudingan
07) leaked copies of exams: salinan ujian yang sudah dibocorkan
08) devastating: menghancurkan
09) unjust: tidak adil
10) result: hasil
Questions:
01) Why do some Cambodian students cheat and where do they get the material from?
02) How much did one student pay to buy a copy of the national exam and how much does it cost for all the
subjects?
03) In which areas and cities did these leaks occur?
04) What does the Cambodian Independent Teacher's Association want the government to do about it?
05) What was the government response to that?
