Crackdown on mobile phones to cost marks

Students found with mobile phones, PDAs, pagers or MP3 players switched on during an exam will lose all grades in all subjects, it was revealed with the release of the Handbook for Candidates sitting exams in 2007.

However, the penalty may be reduced to a score of zero in the one subject if it is deemed to be accidental and the student provides a valid explanation. Invigilators will not have the right to search candidates' mobile phones.

Posters with strict instructions warning candidates to switch off their phones and place them under their seats in full view of the invigilators have been sent to secondary schools throughout the city.

Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority general manager Margaret Hui Yuen-ching said the new rules were in response to a public outcry after students sitting an English exam last May claimed some candidates had cheated by using mobile phones to access the internet while visiting the toilet.

'The new rules come after public attention was drawn to the potential for cheating during last year's exams. We have consulted with schools and the public. We believe the penalty is proportionate,' she said.

An investigation by the Examinations and Assessment Authority concluded that 'in all probability' no one had cheated during the exam in question.