Because the original plans for the text had been “leaked”, the 3rd graders worked on Friday on relief subjects. National Education will file a formal complaint. These are the key elements of this case which has few precedents.
rue de Grenelle says the leak was discovered by “photos of subject circulating on WhatsApp (messaging service)” Thursday at the “end of the afternoon”. The ministry received the information quickly and initiated an emergency procedure when it was faced with a “proven leak”.
The emergency subjects (prepared for each exam in the event of a problem) therefore had to be printed by the examination centers for the 850,000 middle school students taking the history-geography-moral and civic education and science tests.
The leakage was also reported for the mathematics subject, whose test was held on Thursday at 2:30 pm. According to the ministry, this leak was not geographically significant and occurred less than half an hour before event started.
Subject B was chosen to be used for the examination centers that were affected by the leak. Students who wrote on subject A will need to be more vigilant in order to correct the problem.
Late Friday morning, the ministry reported that it had filed a formal complaint against X for theft in a residential or warehouse area. This complaint targets both leaks in the history-geography, science, and mathematics subjects. Rue de Grenelle also plans to launch an administrative investigation.
The ministry also mentioned another issue that occurred on Thursday. “The emergency protocol doesn’t provide for translation in regional language or Braille,” which means that these tests were taken by pupils who had previously studied geography and history.
The Ministry of Education was forced to use fallback subjects this year for the French general baccalaureate because of an error at an examination center, where the originally planned subjects were distributed to replace those of philosophy.
There are many reasons why backup subjects could be used (leak, presumption or flight, bad statement and envelope opened in error before the test …).). Because it is not the same issue as the Baccalaureate, leaks to the patent are extremely rare. It is less common to cheat, says Jerome Fournier from SE-Unsa.
A 1901 law provides that disclosure of subjects before the test is subject to a three-year imprisonment and a fine up to 9,000 euros. Or any combination of these penalties.
After leaks about the baccalaureate mathematics tests, a judicial investigation was launched in 2019. Four people were charged.
The Bac S math exercise was leaked online in 2011. Fourteen young men were sentenced in 2018 to three- and four-months in prison, respectively, for fraud in this case.
The national emergency subjects are called baccalaureate or brevet. They are prepared for any incident in all subjects each year and are known well in advance. To protect their confidentiality, the subjects are required to follow a strict circuit.
One year prior to the exam, the design of subjects is divided among the various academies. To prepare the subjects, a pilot academy is established by each discipline. These are drafted by committees that include professors and inspectors from the discipline. These commissions’ composition and work are kept confidential.
The pilot academy then sends the document to all other academies. Subjects are printed in each Rectorate and placed in sealed envelopes. They are distributed to the establishments a few days prior to the exam, where they are kept safe.
If there is an alert about a potential leakage risk, the pilot academy responsible will distribute subject B to all academies via secure digital technology. The subject is printed by the heads in each exam center due to delays.
