The Ethiopian government has shut down access to mobile internet in
Ethiopia. The reason?- To prevent leakage of exam papers.
Internet access was shut down around on Tuesday, and is yet to be
restored. “The shutdown is aimed at preventing a repeat of leaks that occurred
last year," says Mohammed Seid of the Office for Government Communications
Affairs, to the Reuters news agency.
Ethiopia had earlier blocked the internet in July 2016, after university
entrance exams were posted online, with another block following in August 2016
According to the BBC, it was unable to access websites belonging to the
Ethiopian government and the sole communications provider, Ethio Telecom on
Thursday. Preliminary
data from Google shows a decrease in Ethiopian internet traffic to Google services since Wednesday afternoon.
Internet shutdowns seem to be a growing and worrisome trend in Africa. Algeria
shut down its internet to prevent cheating in school exams in June last year.
In other instances it has been for political reasons such as in Cameroon
earlier this year.
Access to the internet is now recognised as a human right and on no
account should it be shut down for educational, political or whatever reasons.
There should be other methods to safeguard the integrity of exams. Shutting
down the internet not only points to a willingness to stifle freedom of
expression but also an admission of failure of government to tackle problems.
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