- Woman surnamed Lau is also a teaching assistant in a secondary school; she has been granted bail pending investigation
- Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority says the incident did not affect the integrity of the tests, as the leak happened after they took place
Hong Kong police have arrested an invigilator for leaking content from the DSE exam on social media. Photo: HandoutHong Kong police have arrested a 23-year-old invigilator for posting content from the ongoing university entrance exams on social media, the SCMP has learned.
The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority said on Thursday that the incident would not affect the integrity of the tests as the leak occurred after they took place.
Police said the woman, surnamed Lau, was arrested on suspicion of violating the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority Ordinance.
A source told the SCMP she was an invigilator for the city’s Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams, and also worked as a teaching assistant in a secondary school.
The insider added that it could not be ruled out that the woman committed the crime to benefit of her own tutorial businesses.
She has been granted bail pending investigation and is required to report to police in mid-May.
The case was still under investigation, police said.
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The authority said preliminary evidence suggested that the person leaked the information after the related subject exams had finished.
“The confidentiality of DSE has not been affected,” it said.
According to the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority Ordinance, all appointees of the authority, including DSE examination personnel, should ensure secrecy while performing their duties.
“The authority has reminded the examination personnel of all examination centres that it is strictly prohibited to reproduce or publish the content of examination papers in any format without the approval of the [authority],” it said.
The authority filed a report Tuesday to police after a user on the popular Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu allegedly uploaded the question and answer book for this year’s English-language listening test.
The test in question belonged to paper 3 of the English-language test taken on April 13, according to a post on a Facebook page named Edu Lancent on Monday.
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The Xiaohongshu post was first exposed in a DSE forum on Dcard, an online social media platform based in Taiwan, according to the Facebook post.
A screenshot of the Xiaohongshu account included in the post showed the user claiming to have come to the city during secondary school and holding a bachelor’s degree from Hong Kong Shue Yan University as well as a master’s degree from the University of Hong Kong.
The account also stated the user was an educator at a secondary school and taught online tutorial classes for students newly arrived from mainland China.
The SCMP earlier found that all posts and descriptions had been deleted from the Xiaohongshu account.
Police have reminded the public that anyone who contravenes the relevant provisions of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority Ordinance is liable to a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment and a fine of HK$25,000 (US$3,192).