The Hà Giang Investigation Police declared an order for legal proceedings against Phạm Văn Khuông (white shirt), deputy director of Hà Giang Province Department of Education and Training. – Photo courtesy of Hà Giang Province Police

HÀ GIANG – Hà Giang Province Police on Tuesday asked local authorities to criminally charge 210 parents of students who had their scores manipulated in the national high school examination cheating scandal, Tuổi trẻ (Youth) newspaper reported.

According to Colonel Lê Văn Canh, Hà Giang Province Police spokesman, the agency called for the parents to receive appropriate punishments.

In last year's exam, 309 test results of 107 candidates, including two siblings, were adjusted.

Their parents all live and work in Hà Giang Province. Many of them even hold important positions in public agencies.

Earlier this week, provincial police completed their investigations and proposed the provincial People’s Court begin legal proceedings against five suspects involved in the scandal for abusing their position and power.

They are Vũ Trọng Lương, deputy head of the Examination and Quality Management Division under Hà Giang Province Department of Education and Training (DOET); Nguyễn Thanh Hoài, head of the division; Triệu Thị Chính, deputy director of the DOET; Phạm Văn Khuông, deputy director of the DOET; and Lê Thị Dung, an official of the Internal Political Guard under the Hà Giang Police.

The suspects allegedly used software to raise marks for 107 candidates, resulting in one to 29.95 points differences.

According to the investigation, Hoài was the mastermind while Lương directly adjusted 107 candidates’ tests.

Chính, as the examining head, asked Hoài to raise the marks of the literature tests of 13 candidates.

Dung, despite having no role in the exams, asked Hoài to manipulate marks of 20 candidates who were her acquaintances.

Khuông did not join the examination jury but directed Hoài to raise the marks of his son.

Some 5,400 students in Hà Giang took the national high school examination last year.

Three of 11 students with the highest scores nationwide were from the province, an abnormal result which triggered social uproar.

A day after the test result announcement, on July 12, 2018, the Ministry of Education and Training asked Hà Giang Province to review all tests. – VNS