The Investigative Security Agency at the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has arrived at a decision regarding a case of exam fraud in the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh last year. One of the educators received a bribe to alter the scores in 140 answer sheets belonging to 56 students of the 2018 national high school exam, the local media reported.

Students take a national high school exam in this file photo. Three education officials in Hoa Binh Province had modified 56 candidates’ 140 test results in the province’s 2018 national high school exam

The three accused are Nguyen Quang Vinh, former head of the Division of Examination and Quality Management under the provincial Department of Education and Training; Nguyen Khac Tuan, an executive from the same division; and Do Manh Tuan, vice principal of the Ethnic Minority Boarding High School and Secondary School in Lac Thuy District.

Do Manh Tuan admitted to the police that he had accepted a bribe of VND550 million, or US$23,700, to alter the test results and submitted the money to the local police. Meanwhile, Nguyen Khac Tuan said that he had modified his relative's test scores at the national high school exam.

Among the candidates whose test scores were changed included relatives of the accused. Of them, one of Vinh's cousins had the Math and English test scores revised upward by 4.6 and 5.2 points, respectively.

The investigators uncovered that Do Manh Tuan and Nguyen Khac Tuan were in charge of making a list of candidates whose test scores needed to be revised and they modified the multiple-choice answers of some students under the direction of Vinh in early May last year. The answer sheets were then scanned and sent to the Ministry of Education and Training.

The investigators, in their report, said that 140 test results of 56 candidates were modified upward, with the final marks rising between 0.2 and 9.28 points on a scale of 10.

Do Manh Tuan also admitted that Vinh had directed him to alter the Literature test results. However, the investigators did not have enough evidence to reach a conclusion over the wrongdoing of the individuals involved.

The MPS Investigative Security Agency has transferred the case to the Supreme People’s Procuracy and proposed that the latter prosecute the three education officials for abusing their powers to alter the test scores of students, based on Article 356 of the 2015 Penal Code.

SGT