Saudi Gazette The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) strongly admonished cheating. He said, “Whoever cheats does not belong to us (Muslims)”. Exams in the kingdom will end soon and students can breathe a sigh of relief. However, teachers are weary and disturbed for they have caught students cheating. Cheating may be viewed by delinquent students as a quick way to score a high grade, but it is unfair to all those students who have given the exam with honesty and sincerity. How can a student enjoy the taste of success by cheating? Despite warnings against cheating in Islam, parents, teachers, and friends, some students still resort to unethical means of passing their exam, and to top it all they have come up with new ways as well. For example, some girls have discovered that if they get an intricate henna pattern drawn on their forearm and hand, all information can be neatly written between them and it will go unnoticed by invigilators. Others took advantage of their thick long hair to hide small pieces of paper with information written on them. Alyaa Al-Jehani, a teacher at a girls' school said, “Girls have their own methods of cheating. Girls are more emotional and sensitive than boys, and their level of anxiety is more evident on their face which sometimes gives them away. During an exam, I noticed a student repeatedly playing with her hair, scratching her head, untying her ponytail and redoing it again. Minutes later, I caught a tiny white paper hanging from a bobby pin in her hair. Of course the paper was confiscated and strict measures were taken against her.” Stationery salesmen also help print information on colorless rulers at the request of the student. The print looks like the company's and hence goes unnoticed. Many angry teachers have charged at some small stationery shops, which helped students cheat. For a minimal price, students photocopied paragraphs from a book, reduced the size of the print, hid them in their pockets or pouches and sneaked into the exam room. Teachers have called on the General Presidency of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice to routinely inspect the stationeries for such practices and impose a fine on any store that participates in facilitating cheating for students. A high school student, Fahd Al-Hablani, told Al-Watan“I can study by understanding, but I just cannot memorize the required information for subjects such as history, geography, or Arabic literature. A tiny cheat paper had been snatched from me the previous year so that method was no longer an option. I made a pact with my friend who sat in front of me. The night before the exam, I jotted down some important information at the top of his thobe that he wears to school. His head piece conceals the writing and during the test when I give him a signal, he slightly lifts his head piece so I can quickly look at the information. I know it is wrong, but I cheat to keep my grades up. School administrators harshly penalize cheaters but they still persist in this unhealthy behavior. The school principal Afaf Qarah said, “The first time a student is caught cheating, she will receive a zero in the questions that she cheated on and she will sign a contract to not repeat such acts. If the student cheats again, her exam paper will be taken from her and she must sit for the make-up exam at a later date with a notification from the parents. The third time the student cheats she will not be given any more chances; she will be detained and will be forced to repeat the school year.” School counselor and social worker Hessa Al-Dawas said, “Major reasons that some students are desperate to cheat is because either they did not pay attention in class or finish their homework on time or did not read their school books. Cheating is how they compensate their carelessness with. Low self-esteem, lack of adherence to the teachings of Islam in general, and a deficiency in practicing the religion properly at home are also major factors that lead students to cheating.” __
