TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Over 700 first-year students at a high school in Taipei were forced to retake their Chinese literature final exam on Thursday (June 30) after a student was found to have leaked answers to the test on social media.
A member of the Facebook group SSSHHate2.0 (黑特松山高中2.0) revealed that the mother of the first-year student who leaked the answers was a Chinese literature teacher at Taipei Municipal Song-Shan Senior High School.
Before the exam, the student surreptitiously took photos of exam answers from his mother's computer and uploaded them to the story section of the social media community.
After the test had been taken, the student accused all the followers in the group of cheating. This sent school officials scrambling to make a decision as summer break was set to begin.
The school's principal, Chen Ching-kao (陳清誥) confirmed to ETtoday that the incident did indeed occur. After receiving notice of the prank on Tuesday evening (June 28), a meeting was convened among all Chinese literature teachers.
The decision was then made to repeat the final examination for over 700 first-year students at the high school. On Wednesday (June 29), parents were sent a notice informing them of the incident and announcing that a retest would be held on Thursday, but that it would not affect the start date for summer vacation.
Chen said that the decision to have the students retake the test was based on the principle of fairness and because it impacts their grades and standing within the Star Plan in Taiwan's College Entrance System.
According to Chen, the student will be punished for violating school rules to enable them to understand the mistake and how their actions can affect their parents. This is with the hopes that parents will instill in their children the concept of the rule of law from an early age, said Chen.
The principal reminded students and parents that the school allows students to make mistakes so that they can learn from them. However, Chen pointed out that once the students graduate and enter society, "If you steal secrets from a company, it could result in a demerit or even legal action."
Chen emphasized that the teacher in question had not acted improperly and had followed standard operating procedures. He said the school is taking this incident as an example to remind teachers to be vigilant and avoid similar situations from happening again.
