Nine students jailed in Siliana for baccalaureate exam fraud
via Business News3 min read
Nine students were imprisoned on Friday, June 5, 2026, in Siliana after being caught cheating during baccalaureate exams. The students, aged 18 to 19, were found with earpieces used to receive answers during an exam at a center in the Bou Arada delegation. The public prosecutor's office at the Siliana Court of First Instance ordered their detention based on penal provisions related to exam fraud. This incident has sparked debate regarding the proportionality of sanctions and the increasing use of detention for offenses previously handled through disciplinary measures. This is not an isolated case; on Wednesday, June 3, four detention orders were issued in Tunis in a case involving the sale of cheating devices for national exams, implicating a teacher, a student, and two other students. Authorities appear to be adopting a stricter approach to academic fraud, especially with the proliferation of miniaturized electronic devices. While the need to protect the credibility of the baccalaureate is widely accepted, the severity of the repression is questioned. Tunisian law already imposes severe disciplinary sanctions, including exam cancellation and multi-year bans from national exams, which can have lasting consequences for young people. The addition of criminal proceedings and pre-trial detention fundamentally changes the response, treating students as delinquents rather than merely sanctioning academic misconduct. The legal framework used dates back to 1941, under the French prot
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