Iraq postpones ninth-grader final exams indefinitely after cash-for-questions online leak

Iraq's education ministry said Thursday that it was indefinitely postponing end-of-year exams for ninth-graders after a major test questions leak.

In what is not the first incident of its kind in Iraq, exam questions were leaked to be sold on social media for a small fee.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has ordered the formation of a special investigation committee and threatened to punish all those who were behind the leak, state news outlet Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.  

The Iraqi Commission of Integrity has also established an investigation committee. Their preliminary investigations showed that the leak of English and Mathematics questions came from an education directorate in central Baghdad, sources from the commission told INA.

Hakim al-Zamili, first deputy speaker for Iraq's parliament, said education minister Ali Hamid al-Dulaimi would attend parliament to answer questions on the issue this coming Sunday.

Results of investigations will be released soon and a date for the resumption of exams given by early next week, Al-Dulaimi told state media.

وزراه التربيه و الكاظمي وحاكم الزاملي وصلنا إلى خيووووووط #تسريب_الاسيله
والمسرب نزل اسئله الفيزياء ردا على كذبهم pic.twitter.com/ZxcvLo2cNU

— احمد ملا طلال (@AhmadMullaTala) June 2, 2022

Despite claims by the government that it was getting to the bottom of the incident, social media users were sharing questions from exams for other subjects that they said had been freshly leaked.

"After Iraqi officials said they have found clues needed to catch the perpetrators, the leaker has downloaded Physics exam questions. This is proof of their lies," prominent Iraqi journalist Ahmed Mulla Talal tweeted.

التربية تعلن تأجيل امتحان الرياضيات للصف الثالث قبل الامتحان بساعات لاسباب فنية حسب وصفها ..!

ورقة امتحان ماكدرتوا تحافظون عليها ، تريدون تحافظون على وطن ..؟!!#تسريب_الاسئلة #الرصانة_العلمية_اني_اترخص pic.twitter.com/SvJXfz0buP

— ألملكة👸 (@Shaikha11737) June 2, 2022

The Arabic-language hashtag "questions leak" was trending in Iraq.

Some on Twitter used the hashtag to call for al-Dulaimi to resign.

Others suggested the exam question leak was emblematic of government failures elsewhere in Iraq.

"If you can't protect exam papers, how can you protect the homeland?", one Twitter user asked.

There are not yet any plans to repeat ninth-grade exams, the education ministry said, and the postponement of exams until further notice has left students uncertain of their academic future.

"It was a bad news for me and other classmates when we heard the Iraqi officials decided to postpone the remaining exams," 15-year-old Pavel Azad, a ninth-grade student from the village of Hassar in Kirkuk province told The New Arab in a phone call.

"I have worked hard and expected to get high scores."