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:Good for them. Glad they are taking it seriousl

[Maxo-Texas]

I find it ludicrous that a comment saying cheaters are bad would be modded down.

What's the world coming to.

Cheaters are bad.

They ruin things for everyone who is and can actually do the task legitimately.

Doesn't matter if it's body building (where they now look more like ball shaped aliens than body builders), sports (where they die years too early and break records set by people who were not cheating), or screw up the reputation of their education system when they go to a new job and do terribly.

Glad Algeria is taking education seriously. It's foundational and critical.