Five Students Disqualified from Vietnam's High School Graduation Exam for Cheating, Including Principal's Child

Five students at Le Truc High School in the central province of Quang Tri have had all their high school graduation exam results invalidated due to cheating. One of the disqualified students is the son of the school's principal. On August 1, the Quang Tri Department of Education and Training announced that based on the verification results from the Investigation Agency of the Provincial Police, the examination board decided to cancel the exam results of five students for violating examination regulations. For one other case, the department is awaiting guidance from the Ministry of Education and Training. Officials and teachers suspected of involvement in the cheating will be dealt with after the investigation agency concludes its findings. The issue first surfaced on the evening of July 9, when messages allegedly from a student at the Le Truc High School exam site, accusing invigilators of guiding and providing answers, went viral on social media. Following this, Quang Tri established a special task force to review the examination process and results at this site. Consequently, two teachers from Le Truc High School, Mr. Tran Duc Luc (Head of the Mathematics Department, 47 years old) and Ms. Doan Thi Thanh Binh (Head of the Literature Department, 48 years old), were prosecuted for abusing their positions and powers while performing their duties. The investigating agency determined that Mr. Luc, in his role as Deputy Chief Examiner, and Ms. Binh, as the Examination Secretary, along with nine students, were directly involved in the fraudulent and negative acts. The 2026 High School Graduation Exam took place on June 11-12, with over 1.2 million students participating. When the Ministry of Education and Training announced the results on July 1, the scores from Tuyen Quang High School for the Gifted in Tuyen Quang province drew particular attention, with more than 290 out of 328 students scoring above 9 in Mathematics. Subsequently, suspicions arose at multiple other exam sites. On July 8, the Ministry requested all provinces and cities to re-examine their high school graduation exam results, the outcomes of which have not yet been announced.