O-Level exam cheating case: Invigilators describe how cheating was discovered

SINGAPORE — Three invigilators who came across a student cheating during the 2016 GCE O-Level examinations gave more details on Friday (Aug 3) about what transpired that day.

Ms Stephens Gloria, Mr Benin Sabu and Ms Chiew Chan Ping took the stand on the sixth day of the trial of 52-year-old Zeus Education Centre principal Poh Yuan Nie, also known as Pony Poh, and her two accomplices — her niece Fiona Poh Min, 30, and China national Feng Riwen, 25.

They are accused of helping six students from China, who attended tuition classes at Zeus, cheat at their O-Level exams.

Ms Stephens, who has taught for seven years, testified that she noticed transmission sounds and voices coming from the area where one of the students — Mr Chen Yi, 20 — was sitting during the English Paper 1 exam on Oct 24, 2016.

She then called Mr Benin, the presiding examiner, on his mobile phone and told him what she had observed.

Mr Chen took the stand on Thursday, with four other students testifying before him. They told the court that the tuition centre staff had wired them up with Bluetooth devices and a mobile phone, using them to feed the students answers while they were taking their exams.

Mr Chen testified that, when Feng allegedly called him repeatedly during the English Paper 1 exam, the speaker in his earpiece malfunctioned and began emitting sounds.

While Mr Benin said he did not hear any sounds when he went to investigate, he noticed "something strange". Mr Chen had "put his thumb in an awkward area in his vest", he added.

Sometime later, he said Ms Stephens sent him a text message saying she heard faint clicking noises and coughing, which was "extreme enough that students were disrupted".

The students had also testified that they were told to cough if they could not hear any of the answers clearly, so the answer could be repeated back to them.

The two teachers informed Ms Chiew, who was the chief presiding examiner, of their suspicions. Ms Chiew then told the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) what happened, who advised her to pull Mr Chen aside after the English Paper 1 exam to conduct further investigations.

When Mr Chen was brought to the holding room, Ms Stephens said Mr Chen told them that Zeus staff had assured him he would not be caught, "because Singaporean teachers don't check".

He appeared to be in a panicked and stunned state when the invigilators discovered the Bluetooth devices on him as well, she added.

Ms Chiew said the student had hidden his mobile phone in his vest pocket, taped a Bluetooth device near his collarbone, and wore an earpiece. Mr Benin noted that the earpiece was "really very small", which was why he had not detected anything visible on Mr Chen.

When they told him to unlock the phone, Ms Chiew found several text messages and calls on it. One of them was around 1.40pm, when the exam had already begun, with multiple calls coming in during the exam.

Mr Chen was then allowed to sit for the English Paper 2 exam, which took place shortly after Paper 1.

While he was doing so, Mr Benin testified that the mobile phone they had confiscated from him began lighting up with messages in Mandarin. One particular number kept calling in as well.

Using his own mobile phone, Mr Benin called that number on the pretext that someone had called him in the morning, and asked who was on the line. A female voice answered, but hung up without answering his question.

Later, the teacher noticed that some of the text message notifications on Mr Chen's phone contained what looked like answers to exam questions, as well as photos. The invigilators confirmed their suspicions that someone was feeding Mr Chen answers when they compared the contents of the messages to the exam questions.

After the Paper 2 exam, they brought Mr Chen in for further questioning. On the SEAB's instructions, they then told him to collect his phone from SEAB the next day.

Ms Chiew and Mr Benin then drove to SEAB, located at Geylang Bahru Lane, to hand over the exam scripts and devices.

When they got there, they noticed that "someone had somehow reset the phone". Mr Benin elaborated that the iPhone displayed a screen with "Hello" in several languages, which usually appears when someone boots up a new iPhone or resets the settings of an existing phone.

They then handed over the items to an SEAB officer.

The trial continues on Aug 14, with the prosecution expected to call the said SEAB officer and several investigating officers to the stand.