Hanoi education authorities have given warnings to many proctors and exam council executives for ignoring cheating during the 2013 national high school exam at a local high school, the local Department of Education and Training said Thursday.

Earlier, the Ministry of Education and Training received videos showing the cheating from an unnamed person, and handed them over to the department for verification.

Education officials then confirmed that the videos were shot at Quang Trung – Ha Dong High School on June 4, the last day of the three-day exam that began on June 2.

In the clips 12^th graders were caught discussing questions and copying each other’s answers while the proctors had gone out of the exam rooms, or stayed inside but simply ignored the cheating.

The department has thus reprimanded the chairman of the Quang Trung – Ha Dong exam council, while his deputies and secretaries have been criticized.

It has given written warnings to eight proctors in this scandal. Four other inspectors, who were assigned to supervise all the above educators at the exam, have been chided for failing to do their job.

In the meantime, no punishment has been inflicted on the cheaters themselves.

Cheating has been rampant during Vietnam’s various exams for years, with administrators suspected of granting as many passes as possible to manufacture high success rates.

In Vietnam, 12th-graders have to pass their high school graduation exam before they can apply to any college.