KUWAIT CITY, June 4, (Agencies): According to informed sources, the leakage of the Grade 12 Islamic Studies question paper on Monday constitutes a complete transgression, involving the leakage of both the exam paper and answer sheet, as well as a handwritten document containing model answers, reports Al-Rai daily. The sources said, “As soon as the leakage of the question paper was discovered, a decision was taken to cancel the exam and delay it for another day.” Such a decision is unprecedented in Kuwait. The question paper was circulated through Telegram on the early morning of the day of the exam, i.e., before the question papers were delivered to the schools.

Meanwhile, reliable sources explained that the Minister of Education and Higher Education Adel Al-Adwani cancelled his trip to Qatar where he was supposed to participate in the GCC forum for education and higher education. He instead went first to the head office of the Ministry of Education and then to the secret publishing house where he met with the senior staff of the publishing house.

Al-Adwani then decided to suspend all of the 25 employees at the publishing house, referred them for investigations and appointed new staff. Al-Adwani then issued a decision to cancel the exam papers prepared for the rest of subjects and assigned the technical directorates to prepare new exams in order to avoid any potential leakage of the remaining exams. In a relevant development, the Kuwait Teachers Society expressed sorrow regarding the leakage of the exam papers.

It stressed the need to take tough procedures to punish those responsible and prevent any similar cases from occuring again. Also, Chairman of the National Integrity Society Lawyer Mohammad Al-Otaibi praised the procedures taken by the Ministry of Education, stressing the need to adopt firm measures to prevent such cases from being repeated. In addition, the Chairperson of the Education Integrity Committee at the National Integrity Society Dr. Amthal Al-Uraifan said a delegation of the committee visited the exam correction control rooms to follow up the process and ensure the process is carried out properly. Kuwaiti Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr. Adel Al-Adwani warned Monday that immediate action would be taken against any wrongdoing pertinent to exam paper leakage.

The minister’s warning came in the aftermath of a decision to put on the back burner the exam of the Islamic education subject for the 12th grade of high schools, vowing that anyone, regardless of his or her post, involved in the matter would be brought to book. The minister underlined that any attempt to tamper with students’ future would be resolutely addressed, and negative phenomena be determinedly opposed, through the concerted efforts of the ministry’s sincere officials, the ministry’s Spokesman Ahmad Al- Waheeda said in a press statement.

Earlier in the day, the minister of education decided to postpone the exam of the Islamic education subject following the leakage of exam papers, warning that legal action would be taken against all those involved in the affair. On Monday, spokesman of the Kuwaiti Government Amer Al- Ajmi dismissed social media allegations that Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr. Adel Al-Adwani had resigned. Al-Ajmi said in a press statement that legal action would be taken against those rumormongers, urging everyone to seek information from relevant official sources.