Senegal BFEM exam faces cheating scandal and candidate absences

The Brevet de Fin d'Études Moyennes (BFEM) examinations in Senegal encountered two notable issues. At the CEM Bambey schools, authorities dismantled an organized cheating network that used WhatsApp to coordinate illicit assistance. Nineteen candidates were implicated: eleven were arrested on site, a nineteenth was caught with a concealed phone, and seven fled but surrendered to police within 24 hours. All are to be referred to the Diourbel prosecutor’s office for exam fraud charges.

Separately, the École sénégalaise de Bissau reported ten of its registered candidates absent from the BFEM 2026 session. Five female students missed the exams after marrying, five male students were absent due to involvement in cashew harvest work, and two were receiving mental‑health care on the Bijagos islands. Of the 77 registered candidates, 67 sat for the exam at the Kolda centre, and the school highlighted a 100 % success rate on the elementary certificate and a 52.38 % pass rate on the baccalauréat.