Again, Ethiopia shuts internet to prevent cheating in school exams

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.

AFTER 93 DAYS OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, INTERNET SERVICES RESTORED IN CAMEROON

Internet services have resumed in two English speaking regions of Cameroon after a 93 day blackout. President Paul Biya ordered the restoration of internet services yesterday April 20. 

The internet was cut off in January in the north-western and south-western regions, following protest from English speaking community against alleged discrimination by Cameroon's French-speaking majority. The government had alleged that social media was being used to spread false information. The government pressured mobile operators like MTN to shut down the internet by including suspension of internet connectivity as part of their license conditions. No prior notice was given before the internet shut down

Various regional internet and digital rights groups like Internet Sans Frontiers and Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) canvassed for a restoration of internet services in Cameroon using such hashtags like #bringbackourinternet and #keepiton. Top UN officials viewed it as a rights violation.

Sadly, African leaders are increasingly embracing internet shutdowns as tools to stifle spread of information on social media. Countries like Gambia, Congo, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe have all shut down the internet in their countries previously. Even though neighbouring Ghana did not shut down the internet during elections, its Police Chief advocated for it. According to reports, the internet in African countries was shut more than 50 times in 2016. This has spurred proposals to punish African governments if they shut down access to the internet

It is hoped that Nigeria would not join this negative trend