Gan Siow Huang on exam paper leaks at Institutes of Higher Learning

Over the past three years, there were five “isolated incidents” where examination papers at Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) were leaked ahead of time, affecting “a small minority” of the undergraduate student population. This was revealed by Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang in Parliament on Monday (Nov 28) in reply to MPs’ questions. Ms Gan said IHLs have protocols to prevent unauthorised access to, or premature release of, exam papers. These include password-protecting digital copies of the papers and releasing the password to students just before the scheduled exam time, hosting e-assessments on internal platforms with controlled access and storing printed copies in secure locations with restricted access. On a recent incident at Nanyang Technological University, Ms Gan said preliminary investigations showed that an administrative staff member had failed to password-protect the electronic version of the test paper which was meant for students taking the test online. As a result, students were inadvertently given access to the questions before the test started.