Egypt's education minister announced on Monday that the results of final year exams for secondary students, called Thanaweya Amma, are expected by the middle of next week.

In a press conference in the ministry's headquarters, Minister of Education El-Hilali El-Sherbini said that the ministry has not decided on a certain day to release the results, instead adding that they were expecting the results next week.

"We called on the exam graders and checkers to take highest degrees of caution and deliberation so students and parents would be reassured," he said.

El-Sherbini also announced the success rates of some of the subjects, with 95% of students passing the Arabic Language exan, 84.7% passing English Level One and 98.3% passing the Second Foreign Language French or German exams. 

The minister added that 95.5% of students passed the Geography exam and 90.7% passed Philosophy, adding that 88.7% were able to pass the Psychology exam.

In sciences subjects, the minister noted that 87% of students passed the Biology exam while 80.3% passed Chemistry and 77.6% in Physics.

In maths-related subjects, 88.7% of students passed the Pure Math exam and 90.6% passed the Applied Math exam.

Around 600,000 students sat for the exams this year.

Violations

The education minister  also discussed the violations that took place during examinations and procedures undergone by the education ministry, interior ministry and telecommunications ministry so that a repeat of this year's exam leaks will not occur in the future.

El-Sherbini said that during the exams the ministry observed an increase in the possession of mobile phones and electronic devices used for cheating in exam rooms.

According to the minister, the ministry voided 662 exam papers in for one of the subjects due to cheating , while 333 other cases were cancelled for cheating. Ninety-five were referred to general prosecution.

The minister pointed out that for the first time in the history of the Thanaweya Amma exams, eye glasses and watches with wireless technology were used for cheating, adding that some students surgically implanted ear pieces to aid in their cheating attempts.

El-Sherbini has been under fire and students called for his dismissal during the June examination period after a number of exams were leaked. 

In June, hundreds of high school students protested in downtown Cairo against the education ministry’s decision to cancel or postpone the exams after earlier versions were leaked. The students were dispersed by the police using tear gas. 

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said following the  leaks that they would not be repeated next year, adding that the country was currently reconsidering the system of high school exams.