Mauritania: Misprint leads to confusion over exam results

Mauritanian students are furious at the mistake Mohammad Sharif Abeidy – Nouakchott Sources in Nouakchott have revealed that a secretary\'s mistake led to massive errors in the release of baccalaureate exam results, stating that some students who had passed had actually failed and vice versa. The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said: \"It’s the first time the Mauritanian education authorities have made such a huge mistake.\"
\"I blame the education ministry, who brought inexperienced professors, while eliminating others who are well experienced in correction techniques due to favouritism\" said the source.
The success rate for baccalaureate students was at its lowest since Mauritania gained independence, and did not exceed 2.4 percent nationally. Three thousand students are registered for the second bid at a  baccalaureate qualification this year, distributed among 18 centres of which 15 are in Nouakchott, the capital. Parents and students alike were incensed at the gaffe and took to the streets in tens of thousands demanding the government open a formal investigation.
Meanwhile, the education ministry has decided to stop paying the salaries of over 2000 professors who went on strike last year. President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has said education in the impoverished desert country is in a bad state, and the department assigned to it had \"failed\".