The Sudanese Foreign Ministry has summoned Jordan’s ambassador to Khartoum, Mohamed al-Fa’ez, in order to express its disappointment over his remarks on the detention of cheating school students from Jordan and Egypt.
The remarks followed the arrest of a large group of Jordanian and Egyptian students accused of cheating in their Sudanese secondary school certificate exams, and accused of involvement in the leakage of public exam question papers.
Sudan objected to Jordan's impulsive judgement of the situation, taking information to the Jordanian press that was not based on sound facts and reliable information, it said. In the statement on Sunday, the ministry lamented the negative impact predicted to be felt in Sudanese official and social circles following Jordan's statements.
The head of Arab administration at the ministry, Abdel Moneim Ahmed al-Amin, said that the cheating was limited to foreign students, and did not involve Sudanese exam candidates.
Disappointment was also voiced by the ministry over the ‘hasty’ decision by Jordan’s education ministry to nullify the Sudanese secondary school school certificate. It was underlined that the Jordanian students who cheated during exams will be justly dealt with, in accordance with the Sudanese law.
On Monday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry urged Sudan to immediately release 26 Egyptian students who were arrested by police following the incident.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed abu Zeid said Sudanese security services did not level any clear accusations against the Egyptian students.
He added that other students of different nationalities were arrested by Sudanese security services, accused of buying the questions and selling them on to other students. This, Zeid reported, led to the arrest of a considerable number of students including the 26 Egyptians.
Edited translation from MENA and Al-Masry Al-Youm
