Algeria Shuts Off Entire Country's Internet To Stop Students From Cheating (gizmodo.com)

Algeria has begun instituting nationwide internet blackouts to prevent students from leaking high school diploma exams online. Gizmodo reports: The country will turn off mobile and landline internet service across the country for an hour at a time during the exam period, which started on Wednesday and runs through June 25. The 11 blackouts are scheduled for an hour after each exam begins. In 2016, exam questions were reportedly leaked online and authorities were dissatisfied with a less stringent attempt to limit social media during the 2017 exams. The sweeping shutdown will also block Facebook for the entirety of the exam period, Education Minister Nouria Benghabrit told Algerian newspaper Annahar, according to the BBC. Benghabrit reportedly said they are "not comfortable" with their choice to shut down all internet service, but that they "should not passively stand in front of such a possible leak." Metal detectors are reportedly being used to make sure that no one brings any internet-enabled devices into the exam halls. Surveillance cameras and phone jammers are also being used at the locations where the exams are being printed.

Comments

Re:I don't understand.

[tlhIngan]

Students take exams in the U.S.A. as well, and I don't think the American government has ever shut down the entire Internet to prevent cheating. Why does Algeria have so much more trouble dealing with cheating than America? Can Algeria learn anything from the American model?

That's probably because these educational systems are based on the British model, where you have literally a Mother of All Exams to take, and how you do on those exams dictates your path in life. Basically every student will write the exam at the same time on the same day (heaven forbid you get ill or sick, though I'm sure you can take an alternate if you really are sick). But these exams are it - do well, you can look forward to an overseas scholarship to some prestigious college or university anywhere - the UK, US, etc. Do really well and it'll be a full meal deal. Do less well and it'll be a local college or university, then trade school, then well, whatever else.

Honestly, it's a rather disgusting system, and in Asia, from China to India and Singapore and others, it leads to some seriously messed up kids - suicides become the #1 reason for death. Doesn't help that parents generally insist on the foreign scholarship or kicked out of the house. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the death rate among teens due to suicides will start to approach that of the US from guns.

Thus, it's no big surprise that the alternative to killing yourself is to cheat. And cheating devices have grown in sophistication and complexity (and generally are under $200), from smartwatches that hold gigabytes of text and images, micro radio transmitters and receivers, ultra tiny cellphones, etc.

The American system generally has a lot more compassion and in general, you don't have one big exam to determine your future, you may have the SATs and ACTs and other standardized tests, but in general, the kids figure out their path in life - if they want to study overseas, they work for it, else they have to go local. Or some just go trade school and be done with it.

There's still an incentive to cheat, but honestly, the push and motivation to cheat is a lot less - cheating on your SATs and ACTs may get you in the door at your dream university, but in general, you probably wouldn't hack it. You're not trying to compete for your parent's (and relatives!) love, a roof over your head, etc. Not surprisingly, the teenage suicide rate is far lower.

For all its faults, the American system at least lets the kids choose their path and gives them opportunity to succeed, rather than boil down their entire learning into a single number that decides their fate.

In the US, you cheat to get better grades. Elsewhere, you cheat just to survive, live, or avoid getting kicked out of the house.

Re:Not just Algeria

[AmiMoJo]

They aren't so much worried about cheating in exam rooms; that's easy to fix, just take away mobile phones. They are worried about students taking an exam and then posting the questions and answers on social media afterwards. Not all students sit the exams at the exact same time so the ones taking them later could benefit from prior knowledge of the test content.