The Ministry of Education has increased its spending for this year’s high school examination process for the 117,062 students sitting the tests this year, said Pring Morkoath, the head of the secondary education department.

“This year, we have increased the budget by half compared with last year,” he said.

There will be 195 exam centres operating across the Kingdom to accommodate the students.

Last year only 63,668 of the 99,728 students passed their exams.

According to Morkoath, arrangements are 90 per cent complete for the upcoming examinations.

“Nothing much changed for this year’s examination. However, we imposed more restrictions, such as levels of discipline and closed loopholes in management,” he said.

Morkoath said the budget for the process would be around $5 million, adding that the number of candidates was a big factor in the final cost.

He said payment for test proctors would be increased over previous years.

Education Minister Hang Choun Naron has said that the test will maintain its rigid rules based on legality, justice, transparency and acceptable results. He confirmed it was a system dubbed as “you know, you pass”.

This year’s examinations will run on August 20 and 21 while the results will be posted on September 11 in Phnom Penh and Kandal province, and the next day in other provinces.

The Ministry of Education appealed for all candidates to respect the examination rules and reiterated that electronic devices are prohibited in testing rooms. Anyone who defies the rules will automatically fail the test.