The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) offered its appreciation to the leadership and officials at all levels of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, as well as the other stakeholders who ensured the trouble-free progress of the December 5 and 6 grade 12 examinations.
In a December 7 press release, the ACU said this year marked the ninth year it has collaborated with the education ministry in observing the exam process.
More than 3,000 ACU officials and volunteers took part in this year’s operation. The ACU assigned one official to each of the 221 testing centres throughout the country. None of the volunteer observers had to monitor more than two of the 5,174 examination rooms at the centres.
The reason for placing observers in each centre was to ensure the four principles of the examinations: law, justice, transparency and acceptable results.
“The ACU offers thanks for the efforts of the officials at all levels of the education ministry, local authorities, law enforcement forces, health officials and other stakeholders. All of them performed their duties with a clear sense of responsibility,” said the release.
The participation of so many officials and volunteers over the past nine years showed the strong will of the Kingdom’s people to support education reform, it added.
On December 7, education ministry officials inspected boxes of candidates’ worksheets that had been delivered to the official correction centre at Sisowath High School in Phnom Penh.
“The boxes of worksheets are safe and secure under the strict supervision of the National Examination Committees and the ACU,” said the ministry.
The ministry plans to announce the exam results for Phnom Penh on December 27, with the remaining provincial results due the following day.
Ministry spokesman Ros Soveacha spoke to the media following the December 6 end of the exams.
“All of the examination centres ran smoothly, calmly and in an orderly manner. Each of the candidates and officials demonstrated adherence to the principles of the exams and all health and safety measures were followed,” he said.
According to the ministry, 2,400 candidates were absent, the equivalent of just 1.87 per cent of the 128,135 total candidates.