Hoa Binh’s officials get warnings after exam cheating scandal

They are Bui Van Cuu, member of the provincial Party Committee’s Standing Board, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee and head of the provincial steering committee for the national high school exam 2017-2018, and Bui Trong Dac, member of the provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the provincial Department of Education and Training, permanent vice chairman of the steering committee and chairman of the provincial council for the national high school exam 2017-2018.

With most votes from Party members in agreement, the Executive Committee of the Hoa Binh Party Organisation gave Cuu a warning. Investigations showed that Cuu, as a leader of the provincial exam steering committee, did not conduct proper inspections and supervision throughout different periods of the exam, especially while marking test papers.

Since then, as many as 65 candidates received higher marks than their original ones causing serious consequences.

As many as seven workers of the provincial educational sector were temporarily detained for further investigation.

Most members of the provincial Party Committee proposed the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat to dismiss Dac from his position in the provincial Party Committee or all of his positions in the Party for his mistakes.

He also lacked supervision during the exam, especially during the marking of exam papers.

Earlier, the provincial Party Committee’s Inspection Board gave a warning to Nguyen Duc Luong, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Education and Training, deputy head of the exam steering committee and head of the exam questions printing committee.

Warnings were also given to two deputy heads of the exam steering committee, including Nguyen Thi Huong, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Education and Training, and Nguyen Van Thanh, Deputy Director of the provincial Police Department.

Doubts over the high school exam results in Hoa Binh were raised last year after the province announced that it had 27 students scoring nine points or higher in maths, accounting for 4.7 percent of the country.

Investigation showed that the exam results of 65 students had been raised. With a maximum score of ten, some students had their test scores raised by 0.2 to 9.25.