Police detained two education officers in Hòa Bình Province on Friday as the probe into the scandalous national high school graduation exam cheating spreads.—  VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Police detained two education officers in Hòa Bình Province on Friday as the probe into the scandalous national high school graduation exam cheating spreads.

The Ministry of Public Security issued four-month arrest and search warrants against Nguyễn Khắc Tuấn, 37, an officer of the Division of Examination and Quality Management under the Hòa Bình Department of Education and Training; and the 39-year-old Đỗ Mạnh Tuấn, vice rector of the Lạc Thủy Commune Ethnic Boarding High School.

They were both accused of abusing power.

A day earlier, Hòa Bình police officially launched an investigation into allegations of cheatings in the high school exam, making it the third locality in the spotlight after Sơn La and Hà Giang provinces.

Hòa Bình police department director, Colonel Phạm Hồng Tuyến on Friday told the press the probe was initiated because of suspicions of abuse of power to interfere with the scores of the students’ multiple-choice tests.

Both of the two are members of the high school exam’s multiple-choice test scoring team, of which all five members were summoned to the police for investigation, said the provincial education department deputy director Nguyễn Đức Lương on Thursday.

Lương also revealed another name in the group: Nguyễn Quang Vinh, head of the department’s examination and quality management division; however, refused to disclose the names of the other two.

He said that the department detected some “issues” in the scoring process of the multiple-choice tests which involved the computers used for marking.

Those issues were found on the morning of July 28 after a thorough review of the department, according to Lương.

Hòa Bình National High School Exam Council and the Ministry of Education and Training soon received reports on what was discovered.

In a press briefing on Friday, Hòa Bình education department director Bùi Trọng Đắc apologised to the students, the parents and teachers for what happened in the exam.

“I take responsibilities for wrongdoings occurred under my management. I will handle those responsible in line with the law when the police announce the investigation result,” he said.

Doubts over the high school exam result in Hòa Bình were raised after the province announced that it had 27 students scoring nine points and beyond in maths, accounting for 4.7 per cent of the country. The rate was suspiciously high given that there were only 100 students achieving nine plus in a much easier maths test last year, accounting for 0.46 per cent of the national total.

Before Hòa Bình, Sơn La and Hà Giang provinces were found to have had severe cheatings in which the scores of hundreds of students were raised higher than their real results. Five education officials in the two localities have been arrested so far as the probes are still on-going. — VNS