PHNOM PENH - A Cambodian anti-corruption body warned high school students and their teachers that they could face jail if they are caught cheating in national examinations, local media reported on Wednesday.
Om Yentieng, chairman of the Anti-Corruption Unit, instructed teachers attending an anti-corruption training course on Tuesday that they should inform the body if they see other teachers or students involved in cheating in the exams in July.
"Anti-corruption education for secondary school from grade 10 to 12 is a beginning point for students' behaviour change for avoiding to commit immorality," The Cambodia Daily reported Yentieng as saying.
Cheating is endemic in the Cambodian school system, with students regularly bribing proctors, and photocopies of exam papers leaked and sold openly outside schools.
Kem Ley, a social development researcher who has conducted studies on cheating in schools, told dpa that the threat of arrest would not be an effective deterrent.
"The corruption in final exams of Grade 12 is very, very big," he said.
"Teachers must commit corruption otherwise they can't survive - the basic salary is very small," he added. "So if the government wants to reform anything, they will fail unless they increase the salaries."
Teachers in Cambodia receive a monthly salary of around 100 dollars, less than many workers in the country's garment factories.
Earlier this year there were sporadic strikes by teachers around the country calling for a 250-dollar monthly wage.