Singaporean guilty of sophisticated exam cheating plot

SINGAPORE — A Singaporean private tutor has been convicted over an elaborate scheme to help Chinese secondary school students cheat in an exam using mobile phones and wireless devices, prosecutors said yesterday.

Tan Jia Yan, 32, pleaded guilty on Monday to her part in the plot in which answers to O-Level exams were relayed to at least six students via mobile phones concealed under their clothing and connected wirelessly to skin-coloured earpieces, they said.

Tan, who will be sentenced next month, faces a jail term of up to three years and a fine.

Academic excellence is highly valued in Singapore which often tops international education rankings, although the system has been criticised for putting children under too much pressure at a young age.

The Chinese nationals who took the exams in October, 2016 were students at a tuition centre where Tan was a teacher.

Students in the city-state often go for extra tuition in order to have better chances of passing key exams such as O-Levels, which determine if they can qualify for junior college, a direct path to university.

Details of the case provided by the Attorney General's Chambers said Tan conspired with three accomplices to cheat the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board.